Last week I spent a few days in Florida, accompanying our Jacksonville Regional Executive Chris Oakley on some of his meetings with businesses in central Florida. One visit was with the Florida Realtors group in Orlando.
The group recently expanded its economic research function and has two Ph.D. economists and a research analyst working on several projects designed to track and report on Florida's real estate sector. It has also revamped its website, which now includes data and charts on single-family and condo sales and prices, news reports that focus on Florida real estate trends, and even reports on commercial and international sales. It's a great resource for anyone looking to keep current with the real estate sector in Florida.
The group held its 2012 Florida Real Estate Outlook Conference in December, which looked at emerging trends in the sector. A file containing all the presentations can be found here. At the conference, Dr. John Tuccillo, chief economist for Florida Realtors, said that
"Our state is in a mini-recovery. Sales are trending up, listing inventories are falling, the supply of lender-related properties has stabilized, and we are seeing multiple offers on homes in some local markets."
His comments reflect what the Atlanta Fed's poll of real estate contacts reported throughout 2011. This trend continued in January. The majority of Florida participants was positive on sales and remained optimistic that sales growth would continue. That sentiment does not mean that the state's real estate sector has recovered, but our information and that gathered by Florida Realtors show that a recovery is under way.
By Mike Chriszt, an assistant vice president in the Atlanta Fed's research department