CoreLogic: S. Florida home prices could cool

As South Florida home prices near the peak of the last boom, real estate analysts predict the trend to reverse, according to a new CoreLogic Case-Shiller report.

Homes prices in Broward County are expected to decline 2.6 percent from the first quarter of this year to the first quarter of next year, even as prices nationwide gain more than 6 percent.

Prices in Miami-Dade County are expected to drop 2.7 percent, according to the report. Palm Beach is the outlier: The country is projected to see 0.6 percent growth in 2014.

A softening of bullish housing markets throughout South Florida makes sense considering the inordinate contribution of cash deals by investors. South Florida prices have soared more than 20 percent in the past year.

“You and I both know that’s not sustainable,” Sean Snaith, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida, told the Sun-Sentinel. — Emily Schmall