NEWS ARTICLES  

VERO BEACH, SEBASTIAN & INDIAN RIVER COUNTY IN
THE NEWS
 

# Money Magazine named Vero Beach one of the "Top Beach Towns" and Sebastian one of "The Best Places to Live on the Coast."
# Vero Beach was listed #7 of the best "emerging" areas according to the book Cities Ranked and Rated. Vero Beach was described as an "upscale beach community but with a high cost of living by Florida standards."
# Coastal Living Magazine's Senior Editor, Stu Millburg, calls Sebastian a distinctive place that is not 'generica' – places that look just like other places with the same stores and strip malls. "Sebastian was an old fishing village and it's moved away from that, but it still has that feel, that relaxing sense of life," Millburg said.
# Other accolades for Vero Beach includes a #1 rank as "the best small town in Florida and 12th in the nation" by America's Guide to Small Towns. The artistic side of Vero Beach gained the town recognition as one of the "top 10 art towns in the country." 

EXPERT THINKS HOUSING MARKET HAS COMPLETED ITS
DOWN CYCLE

By NADIA GERGIS
nadia.gergis@scripps.com
December 7, 2006  

VERO BEACH — The housing market has hit bottom and that's good news, a prominent Orlando economist told real estate leaders Wednesday.  

Hank Fishkind, president of Fishkind & Associates, Inc. an economic and financial consulting firm, said the Treasure Coast is completing the down cycle with a "soft landing." He predicted a rebound for the market in 2008 through 2009.  

"The good news is, it's not going to get any worse," Fishkind said. "We're at the bottom of the cycle right now."  

Fishkind spoke at a Wednesday luncheon sponsored by the Real Property Council of Indian River County, a real estate attorney association — and the Treasure Coast Real Estate Council, which collects data on local real estate transactions.  

However, he warned that because of the current housing slump — land prices would continue to suffer because prices had reached unsupported values and buyers are not absorbing the influx of new and existing single-family homes coming on the market.  

Additionally, he warned that the area would not experience any significant price appreciation until the market rebounds again.  

"Prices in Florida shoot up like rockets and then falls like a feather, so there will be no price appreciation for a long time," Fishkind said. "I've seen this two or three times before and it will take awhile for the market to absorb all these housing starts."  

Fishkinds remarks are inline with what other local economist are predicting for the housing market.  

Speaking at an Urban Land Institute conference last month, Brad Hunter, Metrostudy director for South Florida, said the market turnaround could take 18 to 24 months. Don Santos, past president of the Treasure Coast Builders Association and president of Santos Construction, has also predicted the market would recover during the 2008 timeframe.  

Fishkind said the housing boom could not be sustained in the area because Indian River County did not have a large job base to support population growth.  

"The employment and economic base is narrow here and cannot support growth for a lengthy period of time," Fishkind said.  

Other factors having a negative effect on local real estate: property taxes and skyrocketing insurance rates.  

He also explained that the portability of Save Our Homes the ability to carry your tax savings to a new property proposed by Governor-elect Charlie Crist may seem like a positive alternative on the surface. But, local governments and their budgets may suffer if it's passed as a constitutional amendment in Florida.  

"I am concerned about the impact of the portability issue on local government because it creates a distorted impact," Fishkind said. "It would reduce the growth of the ad valorem tax."  

Ad valorem tax is a major source of revenues for state and municipal governments.  

URL: http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/real_estate/article/0,2821,TCP_1616_5195807,00.html  

Copyright 2006, TCPalm. All Rights Reserved.  

VERO BEACH IS NO. 2 IN NATION TO BUY REAL
ESTATE, CNN REPORTS

By NADIA GERGIS  

Read the CNN report here
 

nadia.gergis@scripps.com
October 26, 2006 

VERO BEACH — A national business magazine that posts on CNN's Web site has named Vero Beach the second strongest market in the nation to buy real estate.  

Business 2.0 examined five-year growth projections and identified 10 of the strongest markets in the nation, with Vero Beach coming in second. The magazine projected there would be a 64 percent gain in the region's home prices within five years.  

Panama City came in first with a 72 percent projected increase in future home values, while the Lakeland area in Polk County came in fourth with a 59 percent projected increase within five years.  

Steven Cochrane, chief regional economist at Moody's Economy.com told the magazine, "Vero Beach is at high risk (of stagnant home prices) in the short term but will move up in the long term."  

Sally Daley, broker and owner of Vero Beach-based Daley & Co. Real Estate, agreed with Cochrane's assessment of the market.  

"We have long been bullish on investment in Vero Beach real estate for several reasons and have been telling our buyer client base the same thing all year," Daley said. "Vero is undervalued compared to other Florida barrier islands and other eastern seaboard coastal communities."  

The report's only caution was, "lower-wage work can dampen home values."  

Helene Caseltine, director of economic development for the Indian River Chamber of Commerce, said she was pleased at Vero Beach's ranking but disagreed with the negative statements about income.  

"I beg to differ with the caution because we're creating jobs in the research sector," Caseltine said. "Our future jobs creation is centered around being the Research Coast."  

Copyright 2006, TCPalm. All Rights Reserved.