Florida can't seem to catch a break these days, especially when it comes to its housing market. First, the news (or not-so-news, if you actually live there) broke that Florida had the highest rate of foreclosures of any state in the union during the last quarter of 2010. And now, in a striking example of it pouring when it rains - even in the Sunshine State, another stunningly bad real estate stat: Nearly 20% of the homes, all homes, in Florida are vacant. Vacant as in no one lives there. At all. When almost 1 in 5 homes in a state are vacant, it gives new, economically dismal meaning to the phrase "no one's home."This data, revealed by the Census Bureau, shows that 18% of all Florida homes, more than 1.6 million properties to be precise, have fallen into vacancy for one reason or another. To give this some context, this is a 63% increase in vacancies in the last 10 years. These homes largely fall into two categories: new homes that were built, and never sold in the first place, and homes that were once occupied, but have been foreclosed on, followed by the eviction of the homeowners.
But Florida's vacancy rates are extreme, even when compared to the other foreclosure hot spots: California only has an 8% vacancy rate and 16% of Arizona homes are unoccupied. Even Nevada, which has had more total foreclosures than any other state during the four-year-long real estate recession during the real estate recession, only has a 14% vacancy rate. (read more)
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