What hurricanes? Foreclosure rates are back to pre-recession levels & SFL homes are set to sell for record prices
Bottom Line: Simply having total foreclosure activity finally recover to pre-housing crisis levels is good news. When you factor in the impacts of two major hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, the news is even better. According to the latest from Attom Data solutions that's exactly what's happened. Typically, hurricanes lead to an increase in foreclosures but aside from a bit of an uptick in Houston due to Harvey – we continued to make progress throughout the first quarter of 2018 – including in Florida. The result is that total foreclosure activity (new foreclosures in addition to those in the pipeline) is at its lowest since the 4th quarter of 2016. While the recession officially began in November of 2007, the housing market peaked nationally in June of 2007 and in South Florida it peaked in May of 2006. The housing recovery is now more than six years old (the housing market turned in January of 2012) and for the first time we're seeing the average home price and overall foreclosure activity besting where we were at the peak of the housing boom.
54% of home prices are above pre-recession peak levels
That being said we do still have some work to do in SFL for the average home to hit new highs, but we've made significant progress. Here's where SFL home prices stand against their all-time highs:
In Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties the average home price is 13.8% below all-time high levels. At current appreciation rates well see the average home in South Florida sell for record highs in 2020. Btw, the first metro in Florida to have record high home prices, exceeding housing boom levels, is Pensacola with the average home price now 3.8% above pre-recession peak levels. The metro that's the furthest behind peak levels is Ocala, with the average home still 17.7% below peak levels.