GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The bursting of Florida’s housing bubble and overall economy has also let the air out of the state’s famed population growth, which has shrunk to its lowest levels in three decades, according to the latest projections from the University of Florida.
Torrid population growth rates in Sun Belt metropolitan areas from Florida to Arizona, Nevada and California have slowed amid a severe downturn in the nation's housing market, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census Bureau data released today.
"It's really a slowdown in places with superheated housing markets that were almost out of control in terms of their growth," says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. "It reflects the rapid response to angst of getting financing in those areas. People are becoming much more risk-averse, much more conservative about moving."
The conventional wisdom is that booming growth for Florida is as sure as orange blossoms in spring and hurricanes in summer.
But some economists -- armed with fresh anecdotal evidence -- think that, at least in the short term, high insurance rates, high property taxes and heady competition from other retirement states is taking some of the wind out of the Sunshine State's sails.
At a time when the real estate industry is counting on growth to revive the sagging housing market, any slowdown could prove dangerous.
Newswise — The latest round of bad news in the housing market dealt a blow to consumer confidence in August, causing a three-point drop to 78, its lowest level in a year, a new University of Florida study finds.
