Floridian voters consider housing
Take tanking home prices, add high property taxes and you've got the housing market in Florida. John Dimsdale went to Fort Lauderdale to talk to voters on the issue as the state holds its Republican primary today.
Homes in the town of Celebration, Fla. (Preston C. Mack/Getty Images)
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Scott Jagow: We'll focus on Florida, since it's holding its Republican primary today. Florida's housing market has a double-whammy: home prices going in the tank plus high property taxes. Marketplace's John Dimsdale is in Florida, talking to voters.
John Dimsdale: Floridian Bob Keeler feels like he's taken a direct hit from the falling economy.
Bob Keeler: I live in Punta Gorda, Florida, and according to the Wall Street Journal, we're the worst place in the country as far as declining values. We're number one in the nation, so I guess being number one sometimes isn't the best thing in the world.
At an AARP rally in Fort Lauderdale yesterday, another voter, who would only identify himself as Joe, said home values are important for senior citizens.
Joe: It puts additional pressure on the finances of people that either want to move away because of the cost of living or because of the taxes or the cost of the property insurance.
But voters say housing issues get short shrift from candidates, with the exception of Rudy Giuliani. He's the only Republican to endorse a taxpayer financed national catastrophe fund to help ease the pinch of hurricane insurance premiums in Florida. Whether that translates into much-needed votes for the former New York Mayor remains to be seen.
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
