Professors from Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University conducted a study in which they were able to identify the most overpriced housing markets in Florida. Lakeland leads the way with a 31.39% premium, this means that houses are selling for 31.39% over their long term pricing trend. In plain English people are paying 30% more for houses than what they are worth in Lakeland. Here is what they found:
- Lakeland - 31.39% premium
- Tampa - 31.35% premium
- Melbourne - 28.97% premium
- Daytona Beach - 25.55% premium
- Fort Myers - 23.28% premium
- Orlando - 22.32% premium
- Jacksonville - 22.02% premium
- North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton - 20.11% premium
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale - 12.91%
We can infer from these numbers that whenever a downtrend in housing occurs it will hit the most over-priced areas the hardest. Other factors will also impact housing markets, most importantly, whether or not employers are going to force employees back to working in-office full time. The housing market has been propped up by low interest rates and people seeking larger homes, further away from traditional work areas because they can work remotely. That has in turn helped raise prices and values of larger homes further away from population centers. If large employers change work from home policies it could cause a significant downturn in the housing market because these large, over priced homes, far away from population centers will lose value quickly, which may spark another foreclosure mini-crisis. It is difficult understand why so many employers policies can impact housing prices but that is where we are at in this economy.
