As real estate market loses sizzle, landlords offer more deals [South Florida]
When Denise McGill moved to Palm Beach County from rural North Carolina two years ago, she was stunned at the high cost of housing. So she found a roommate and resigned herself to renting.
“In retrospect, I definitely did the right thing,” said McGill, 38, an assistant photojournalism professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach. “I’m so glad I didn’t buy because I would have bought at the peak of the market.”
South Florida’s rental market became one of the hottest in the nation in recent years, thanks to skyrocketing housing costs and a surge of condominium conversions that shrank the inventory of apartments. With home prices declining, many renters are staying put, hoping prices fall even further and waiting to see what Florida legislators do to address soaring property taxes.