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Jun 16, 2009 5:40 pm US/Eastern
Florida Economic Recovery Lags Behind Nation
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Residential construction across the nation unexpectedly climbed last month to its highest levels since last fall. But here in Florida, the housing markets are now being blamed for possibly delaying our recovery for another two years.
Florida went into a recession about six months before everyone else and our recovery may take even longer, according to the latest economic forecast from banking-giant Wachovia.
Researchers found Miami-Dade recently lost about 41-thousand jobs, even though foreign trade and commerce remain strong. But construction and housing are still long-term problems.
The Wachovia Forecast concludes "A considerable period of time will be needed to bring Miami's Housing Market back into balance."
Coral Gables financial planner Matt McGrath says housing is still the biggest problem delaying our overall recovery. McGrath says "It certainly looks like housing is pulling down so many other areas, like employment and consumer spending. It all has to be worked out".
The study finds Ft. Lauderdale's job loss was a little better, but it still has some major weaknesses too after recently losing about 35,000 positions. While Broward's recovery is still "a ways off," it finds "the worst of the recession there has likely passed."
Wachovia Economists say statewide unemployment will worsen due to our housing and real estate markets, which they describe as "still considerably worse than the rest of country."
That's why researchers believe we may not see a turnaround until much later than the rest of the country, possibly as late as 2011 with "some modest gains in spending later this year."
Still, there are growing signs housing's slowly improving and just about everyone agrees that's a very good sign the national recovery could be slowly starting.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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