This is probably not something you will see Mayor Brown cheerleading for or against, but it shows Florida and Jacksonville still have a long way to go to see a recovery in real estate:
QuoteThe housing market in the Sunshine State is rebounding, but there is still a long way to go to return to pre-recession levels.
According to an On Numbers analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, Jacksonville ranks No. 11 among the 100 largest metropolitan areas with the worst vacancy rates as of 2010.
Jacksonville has a rate of 15.8 percent, which represents 503,000 million occupied housing units out of an available 598,524 million housing units.
Nationally, the highest vacancy rates occurred in states that depend heavily on tourism and seasonal housing, such as Florida, Nevada and Arizona.
The seven worst metros for vacancy rates were all in Florida: Fort Myers (37 percent vacancy), Sarasota/Bradenton (27.9 percent), Lakeland (21.4 percent), Orlando (20.7 percent), South Florida (19.5 percent), Palm Bay (17.8 percent) and Tampa (17.6 percent).
The most stable markets were in the East, Midwest and coastal California, led by Lancaster, Pa. with a vacancy rate of 4.5 percent.
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2012/06/19/jacksonville-housing-vacancy-no-11-in.html (http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2012/06/19/jacksonville-housing-vacancy-no-11-in.html)