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2008 Industry Outlook
Residential Real Estate 2008
Bottoming Out: The residential market will likely hit its low this year.
 “When you look at the looming oversupply in the Miami-Dade condo market, it’s likely there will be several years of down pricing.” — Real estate consultant David Dabby [Photo: Daniel Portnoy] |
Lewis Goodkin, president of Goodkin Consulting in Miami (and a contributor to Florida Trend), expects the state’s builders to keep cutting home prices as land and construction costs fall. He adds one caveat: “Our pricing has escalated so much in recent years that genuine users have really thinned out because of affordability.”
Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, says the state’s lower-cost markets are most likely to attract residents. Orlando, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville will recover more quickly than Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Naples/Fort Myers, he believes.
The Trends
 More rentals
Falling land, labor and material costs For condo developers and buyers, higher presale and equity requirements More existing homes on the market More foreclosures and distressed sales Credit crunch for buyers, builders and developers |
Meanwhile, Florida’s luxury second-home market remains one of the few bright spots, says Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of EWM Realty in Coral Gables. “The high-end buyer is very active in our marketplace,” he says. “They see an opportunity to buy choice units at prices they may not see again.”
