Floridians confidence remained unchanged in December, but there is increasing pessimism about personal finances, reflecting the state’s worsening economic plight as housing prices fell and unemployment rose, a new University of Florida (UF) survey has revealed.
“Recently, Florida has had a little more bad news than good news,” said Chris McCarty survey director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. “There are some indications that other parts of the country, particularly those areas surrounding Washington, D.C., are improving while Florida appears to be lagging the economic recovery. Some states are simply better equipped to benefit from the stimulus dollars; it is far from an equal distribution.”
The median price of a single family home in Florida declined over the past few months from a 2009 high of $148,000 in June to $139,000 in November, McCarty said. Last month’s home prices have fallen 12 percent below those of November 2008, he said.
To make matters worse, Florida’s unemployment rose to 11.5 percent in November, a larger gain than most economists expected, McCarty said. The increase comes at a time when the national unemployment rate actually declined, he said.
“There is a strong possibility that Florida’s unemployment could cause housing prices to decline even further as unemployed homeowners face foreclosure,” he said. “This does not bode well for consumer confidence, and therefore consumer spending, as we enter the new year.”
The survey revealed that personal finances fell three points to 46, when compared to one year ago, while perceptions of personal finances a year from now fell one point to 81. Those surveyed also felt too, even more so that, it is not a good time to buy big ticket consumer items–perceptions fell two points to 76.
On the other hand, perceptions of U.S. economic conditions over the next year rose two points to 67, while perceptions of U.S. economic conditions over the next five years rose three points to 75.
