Florida population decline first in 63 years
- (AP) 8/17/09: "Florida's population has declined for the first time in 63 years, state researchers said Monday as they blamed the recession for plunging tax revenues and a steep drop
- in new residents.
- The state has lost 392,800 jobs during the past year, continuing a decline that began in 2007, the Agency for Workforce Innovation said.
- Florida's population is about 18.3 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau....
- The study did not measure the number of people leaving Florida....
- (St. Petersburg Times, 8/13/09): "Some in Florida whose economic well-being relies on the next new resident, and then the next new resident, will lament. They are cities, developers, power companies, public school systems and, yes, newspapers that need new blood in order to expand.
St. Petersburg's Progress Energy Florida, in its second-quarter report, said it lost 8,000 customers. And Miami-based Florida Power & Light reported a decline of 16,000 in the same period ended June 30.
- That's 24,000 fewer Florida households just between those two utilities.
What else is driving the moving van departures? Surely those here who are "underwater" because they owe more on their homes than they can be sold for.
- Bankers call it negative equity. It is plague in the state.
In Miami-Dade and Broward counties, 47 percent of all single-family homeowners were underwater as of June 30. In the Tampa Bay area, that percentage is lower.
- But even nationally, 23 percent, or more than one in every five, of single-family homes with mortgages are underwater, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.
Discouraged by years of falling home prices and the prospect of making hefty payments on an increasingly worthless asset,
- many Florida residents are walking away from their debts. Or they are trying to hold on, often face foreclosure, then leave."..."Challenges big for Florida as Exodus no longer Anecdotal," by Robert Trigaux
Labels: St. Petersburg loses 8000 electric customers in one quarter
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