By Nadia Vanderhoof (Contact)
We were quoted in this article by the Press Journal…
Vero Beach has the most undervalued real estate nationwide, according to a recently released housing study.
IHS Global Insight, an economic research and forecasting firm, ranked the Vero Beach region as having the most under-priced homes out of 330 metro markets nationwide.
The IHS report, House Prices in America, said Vero Beach’s average home price dropped to $125,400, during the first quarter of 2009, a 29.7 percent drop from the first quarter of 2005.
“I tell my buyers that real estate is ‘on sale’ in Vero Beach and now is the time because we believe that we are close to the bottom here,” said Billy Moss, a commercial real estate agent with Lambert Commercial Real Estate in Vero Beach. “I believe 2009 will be the time in the future when investors who hesitated will look back on and say, ‘I should of, I could of, I wish I would of.”
The report said real estate in Vero Beach is currently undervalued by 42.5 percent. “We researched average prices across the state and up the eastern seaboard and found that no other seaside community could match what your dollar will buy in Vero Beach,” said Sally Daley, broker and owner of Daly and Co. Realty, which has listings across the Treasure Coast. “And with Vero’s notoriously stringent low profile height and density regulations, our housing inventory remains essentially fixed to insure property values will not be diluted by the sprawl that’s adversely affected other communities across the state.”
Paul Kitchen, broker and owner of Vero Beach-based Starfish Real Estate and LivinginVero.com agreed. He said this past season, his firm saw an increase in interest from out-of-town buyers particularly in the price range quoted the report.
“We’re starting to see multiple offers from people in that price range,” Kitchen said. “This past season was wild, as far as how many buyers were here.” The report has already been published by news outlet CNN. Kitchen hopes that publicity will bring more interest to the region. “This is definitely telling people that Vero Beach is the top spot to buy,” Kitchen said.
Houma, La. ranked No. 2 on the report with homes prices at $113.500, about 41.4 percent undervalue.
There was no ranking for the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area, but the report said prices there stood at $118,500, undervalued by about 33.3 percent. The study said “the bursting of the housing bubble in once-overvalued areas in California and Florida was severe,” and prices in those states had fallen more than 50 percent from their peaks.
The report said Atlantic City, N.J. remains the most overvalued housing market nationwide, with prices coming at $243.600, 44.1 percent over-priced.
