Prices on the Rise

South Florida’s housing market will continue to improve in 2012 as home prices rise 6 percent through the rest of the year, a California research firm says.

That forecast from Clear Capital would put Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties among the 10 highest-performing large metro markets in the country.

Demand from foreign investors is slowly helping the South Florida market recover, said Alex Villacorta, director of analytics and research at Clear Capital of Truckee, Calif.

Less than a third of all home sales are from a lender. During the housing collapse, about 50 percent of sales involved a bank-owned home, Villacorta said.

Phoenix is projected to have the biggest increase in prices at 12.1 percent. Tampa is next at 11.4 percent and Orlando is third at 9 percent. South Florida is ranked sixth.

Despite the expected gains, prices in many of these hardest-hit markets remain more than 50 percent below peak levels, Clear Capital says. Prices in South Florida are off nearly 60 percent.

“All of these markets still have a long way to go,” Villacorta said.

The firm says its analysis is based on repeat sales of homes and condominiums.

Analysts agree that the South Florida housing market is slowly recovering, but some still expect prices to fall in 2012.

Moody’s Analytics of West Chester, Pa., says it could be 2013 before Palm Beach County hits bottom and 2014 for Broward County.

Many homes are stuck in the foreclosure process now but eventually will come on the market, said Chris Lafakis, an economist covering Florida for Moody’s.

“Banks have this inventory and once that inventory is liquidated, prices will fall,” Lafakis said.

Source: Sun-Sentinel