Economist Predication for Orlando Real Estate

Orlando economist Hank Fishkind told builders and top Realtors in Orlando on Wednesday evening that he still sees signs of "a bottom building" for the slumping housing industry in Central Florida.

In a quarterly update for his client Stirling Sotheby's International Realty, at the Global Gallery in The Plaza downtown, Fishkind said Metro Orlando is better positioned than many areas to ride out the downturn because of its continued job growth.

The region is still creating jobs and has a net increase in population, so the slowdown in home building and sales will help the region reach a better balance in supply and demand faster than in other parts of the state and nation. "Orange County has the strongest economy" in Florida, he said.

But some of the real estate professionals in the crowded penthouse gallery, in a downtown Orlando building that is not fully complete and is involved in a foreclosure action, noted that Fishkind has been seeing signs of a bottom for at least three quarters.

Fishkind conceded that such forecasting is tricky. Courtesy of Orlando Sentinel.