Palm Beach County- The Housing Bust and Beyond
The Palm Beach County tax appraiser's office has Real Estate in 2006 valued at $233 Billion. In 2011 the Palm Beach County tax appraiser has Real Estate valued now at $155 Billion. This is a lost value of $78 Billion which is a drop of 33%. 
Now that is an average which does not mean that every house in every Wellington or other community suffered the same. Some suffered more than others. Typically speaking, if you bought a house in the peak of 2006/2007 you can most likely count on your market value being about 50% of what you paid. If you bought your house before 2004 but refinanced your Wellington home in the peak years of 2006/ 2007 you may have up to 55% loss in value due to higher than market value appraisals on many refis during those years.
But along with the real estate bust came other trickle effects into the economy of Palm Beach County and some might say they are not trifle or trickle but rather life altering and dramatically shifting of personal wealth.
In 2007 Palm Beach County had 585,600 jobs that were non-farming jobs. In 2011, that number dropped to 492,500 which was a loss of jobs of 93,100. This is annual wages lost of over $4.7 Billion and that equates to a job loss of 16%.
Taxable sales from goods sold from June 2005 to May 2006 was an amazing $23.76 Billion. The taxable sales for the year of June 2010 to May 2011 was $20.25 Billion a lost of $3.51 Billion which is a 15% loss in sold goods.
The real estate boom made millionaires out of many of the middle class around Palm Beach County and as fast as that gold rush came it also vanished, evaporating personal wealth.
It is projected by economists that while homes priced right are selling and we have more homes selling this year than we did last year the prices of homes are still falling and will continue to decline through the end of 2012.
Many Floridians kept their jobs or started new businesses. Many Floridians got hit with the prices falling and watching their equity evaporate but are still in their homes, still live their lives, still enjoy their families. We pull ourselves back up after falling and know that we can rebuild again.
While housing prices in Palm Beach County will not see a big upswing for several years there is much more to life than equity in your house. At least we have houses that we can call our homes to live in. We are blessed to live in the sunshine state with no state income taxes and no tax on food. We are becoming more attractive to businesses looking to get away from Tax ridden states and that will bring jobs here.
So while the reporting and the front page news of papers, radio and newscasts can paint all the negatives we can focus on what is working. We can focus on what we are grateful for.
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