Home sales see statewide boost

Even as one of the leaders in the national housing collapse, Florida is turning out to be one of the first states to report a one-year bounce from the bottom. Although national existing home sales dropped 2.7 percent in August, Florida reported a 12th consecutive month of sales increases, based on lower property values and a high foreclosure inventory. State home sales climbed 28 percent; Miami-Dade county was up 22 percent; single-family home sales were up 35 percent in Broward County; and Palm Beach County notched a 21 percent increase in sales. Still, property values continued to show double-digit declines throughout the region. National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said existing home sales will rise through the fourth quarter, but that the end of a federal tax credit that gives first-time homebuyers $8,000 will affect that pace if it expires in November. [FAR] and