Nearly 20% of Florida homes are vacant (14% nationally)

[notesdev]

On Thursday, the Census Bureau revealed that 18% -- or 1.6 million -- of the Sunshine State's homes are sitting vacant. That's a rise of more than 63% over the past 10 years.

In Florida, the worst-hit county is Collier -- home of Naples -- with a whopping 32% of homes empty. In Sarasota County, 23% of the housing stock sits vacant, while Lee County (Cape Coral) has a 30% vacancy rate. And Miami-Dade County has a vacancy rate of about 12%.

The housing recovery will take years, perhaps many years, to complete, according to Ingo Winzer, a housing market analyst and founder of Local Market Monitor.

"It will take about eight years just to put the vacancy numbers back into the single digits," said DeKaser.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-20-of-Florida-homes-cnnm-2507768369.html



Banker games' cascading effects. With all the people struggling to keep a roof over their heads, thanks to the banking clan and their allies in both parties, one out of every seven homes in the whole country sits empty, in many cases uselessly deteriorating without maintenance.

Have we had enough of banker-friendly "solutions" to the housing crisis yet? Howabout a people-friendly solution, one which helps those who are deep underwater while not screwing over those who were prudent enough not to buy into a bubble?

[cutlassmama]

1. where are all these people going?

[notesdev]

2. Back to live with their families

in this country or elsewhere

http://www.twincitiesbuilder.com/2011/02/lack-of-new-household-formation-dragging-on-home-construction/

Taking into account declining immigration levels during the recession, the U.S. is experiencing the lowest household formation rate in more than 60 years. The nation usually adds 1.3 million new households a year, but in 2009 and 2010, that number fell below 400,000. That is the lowest level since 1947. In Minnesota, the state estimates that only 8,000 households were formed in 2009. About 15,000 were formed in 2010. That’s down from the usual rate of 23,000 new households a year.

[Sherman A1]

3. I live across the street from 2 empty homes

and another is behind me. One was a foreclosure, on an Elderly lady passed away and the third one I never did figure out who exactly lived there. it's an older neighborhood of 3 bedroom one or two bath homes. Some are being re-habed others not so much.

I expect it to be a long road back.