Florida remains one of the top states for foreclosures, despite the rest of the nation reporting a steady recovery. According to foreclosure lawyer Dillon Graham of Graham Legal, the future of real estate in Florida is not all positive.
“While everyone is excited about the additional construction in South Florida, it seems they are forgetting that Florida still has over 300,000 open foreclosure cases in state courts,” said Graham.
Investors in Florida real estate continue to push up prices, which leads to less affordability for average borrowers.
About 550,000 Florida homeowners with a mortgage are 90 days or more delinquent in payments and are subject to foreclosure. And the problem could get worse as interest-only loans continue to mature, making mortgages payments too high for many current homeowners.
On the other end of the spectrum, a report from the Sun-Sentinel a couple of weeks ago said that South Florida home values are expected to soften in 2015 and the area will experience an increase in mortgage lending.
"We're in the midst of a slow recovery," said Ken Johnson, a real estate economist at Florida Atlantic University. Potential buyers needn't worry that homes will become over-valued and prices will climb out of reach if they fail to buy right away," he said. "Housing will still be a good deal six months from now, a year from now."
