Feb 22, 2009 6:08 pm US/Eastern
South Florida On "Most Abandoned Cities" List
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Once a boom town for development as the city fathers of Las Vegas developed it into a family friendly town. Now Forbes magazine reports the sagging economy has earned Sin City a new title – the Most Abandoned City in America.
Four Florida areas; Miami/Miami Beach/Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa also made the top 15.
Forbes composed its annual list based it's on the number of vacant homes and rental properties in the 75 largest metro areas based on the fourth quarter numbers released by the Census Bureau.
Coming in second was Detroit followed by Atlanta, Georgia; Greensboro, N. Carolina and Dayton, Ohio. Analysts said industrial cities like Detroit and Dayton were hurt by America's industrial decline while Las Vegas and Orlando suffered because of the housing boom of few years ago which quickly turned bust.
In the Sunshine State, Orlando came in at six with a home vacancy rate of 7.3 percent and a rental vacancy rate of 12.3 percent. Jacksonville tied for ninth with Indianapolis, Indiana with a home vacancy rate of 3.6 percent and a rental vacancy rate of 14.7 percent. The Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area followed closely Jacksonville; it came in number 11 on the list with a home vacancy rate of 3.6 percent and a rental vacancy rate of 13.1 percent. Finally, the Tampa/Clearwater area ranked at number 13 with a home vacancy rate of 3 percent and a rental vacancy rate of 15.6 percent.
Honolulu was ranked number one in the nation for occupancy; it had a vacancy rate of 5.8 percent for homes and half a percent for rental units.
Source: Forbes.com
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