Three Florida Counties Among Nation’s Fastest Growing
Staggering Florida mortgage costs aren’t impeding population growth - at least not in fast-growing Lee County, Sumter County and Flagler County.
According to a CNN Money and U.S. Census report on the nation’s fastest growing housing markets. Pinal County, Arizona, was the fastest-growing nationally last year.
Housing units in the Arizona county, part of the Phoenix metro area, jumped by 16.6 percent, or 18,000, in the 12 months ended July 1, 2006.
Yet despite high Florida home mortgage costs that are forcing many to consider moving, three of the top five growing counties were right here in Florida.
Those three were second-place Sumter County, fourth-place Lee, and Flagler County, which had the highest growth rate in the past two years.
Pinal County’s neighbor, Maricopa County, added the most total units, with an increase of 43,000. Placing second was Harris County (Houston), Texas, which added 39,000 units, followed by Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada, with 38,000.
Out of all counties, two Louisiana parishes lost more than half of their homes, due to the destruction by Hurricane Katrina.
Orleans Parish, La., lost 107,000 units, the largest decline in housing units last year, while St. Bernard Parish had the highest rate of decline, losing 76.2 percent of its homes.
At the state level, Florida added the highest number of homes (273,000), followed by Texas (198,000), and California (181,000).
Among the states with the fastest growth rate, four out of five states are in the West: Nevada (4.5 percent), Arizona (3.5 percent), Idaho (3.4 percent), Florida (3.3 percent), and Utah (3.1 percent).
So much for a Florida housing market slowdown when it comes to new units and residents trying to move into them.
Louisiana was the only state in the United States with a drop in housing units, falling by 11,000, or 5.7 percent.
Overall, there were 126.3 million housing units in the United States last year, a 1.4 percent increase from a year earlier.
SOURCE: CNN Money
