Tuccillo: “Florida’s housing market is back”

The optimism is picking up for Florida’s housing market, according to a group of U.S. economists speaking to a Florida Realtors conference in Orlando this week. “Florida’s housing market is back, with great possibilities for the future — but those possibilities are only beginning to be realized,” said Dr. John Tuccillo, chief economist for Florida Realtors, who was joined in Orlando by economists including Doug Duncan, chief economist for Fannie Mae and Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. “The trend has been established for the housing recovery, but robust growth awaits more jobs and a stronger economy,” Duncan said. “Three years into the recovery, the current economic expansion is the weakest since World War II. Just over half of the jobs lost in the Great Recession have been recovered.” — Alexander Britell