Palm Beach County's declining home prices stir market
First-time buyers take advantage of bargains
By Paul Owers | South Florida Sun Sentinel
February 26, 2009
Bargain hunters have taken over South Florida's housing market.
The housing slump, entering its fourth year, is unlikely to turn around soon, real estate and economic analysts say.
Moody's Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa., research firm, expects the local housing market to remain depressed for all of 2009 and most of 2010. It forecasts home prices in Palm Beach County to hit bottom in the third quarter of next year.
... Mounting job losses are starting to hurt the housing market. "That takes away from the number of people who want to buy or can buy a house," said Chris Lafakis, an economist for Moody's.
In 2008, Palm Beach County had the nation's 64th-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 27 homes in some stage of distress, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing firm.
The Obama plan will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance mortgages as long as the loan-to-value ratios are no greater than 105 percent. Under current rules, they can't guarantee home refinancing if a mortgage amounts to more than 80 percent of the home's value.
But analysts say many South Floridians still won't be able to refinance because the severe price declines here mean homeowners owe more than 105 percent of their property's value.
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