What Are The Effects Of The Florida Land Boom

The 1920’s were an exciting time and Florida had one of the best economic and social structures in America and for the first time Americans had the money and resources to travel to Florida and invest in real estate, thus causing the Florida Land Boom (Florida History Organization). Millions of Americans believed that anyone could become rich despite their current financial situation and this could be done with economic prosperity and a good job that provided one with benefits. Wintertime brought many travelers to Florida, which mostly consisted of middle aged, middle class families. With the fluctuation of visitors, Florida soon began catering more to these tourists, which would ultimately lead to what is known as the Florida Land Boom of the

Miami began to receive a reputation of being this tropical paradise and as a result this led to outside investors taking an interest in Miami’s real estate. Soon after a boom ensued after property prices began to rise at a rapid rate (Colombo). As middle class Americans began vacationing in Florida, the tourism industry began to boom, which caused land prices to rise. Florida’s population continued to grow and the current real estate market could not satisfy this rapid growth and as a result Florida’s economy began to boom, which lead to cheap credit and allowed anyone to be able to invest in real estate, despite their financial situation at that time (Colombo). By 1922, the Miami Herald soon became the most popular newspaper due to the large amounts of real estate advertisements and word of Florida’s real estate boom began to reach investors in New York and Massachusetts, which caused a snow ball effect to occur, as everyone was wanting a piece of the action (Colombo). Large amounts of capital were put into Florida’s real estate market and projects began to flourish such as golf communities, resorts, and retirement communities. Mansions also began to sprawl in about every area; all consisting of large swimming pools and waterfront properties became the most desired

“A real estate property could have been bought at $1,700 and by 1925 the value soared to $300,000, but Florida’s real estate bubble would soon pop as Florida’s real estate prices soon rose so high that prospective investors began to lose interest in Florida’s real estate and earlier investors began to sell their holdings in hopes to lock in their profits” (Colombo). Soon property prices began to fall, which caused the market to panic and finally resulted in Florida’s real estate market to crash. Buyers no longer showed an interest in Florida and this caused real estate investors to go bankrupt, as they weren’t able to pay the high mortgage payments. If that wasn’t bad enough, in September of 1926, a hurricane destroyed Palm Beach County and after the storm a tidal wave destroyed the towns of Belle Glade and Moore Haven (Colombo). This led to the destruction of 13,000 homes and left 415 people dead (Colombo). The Mediterranean fruit fly also made it’s way to Florida, which ruined Florida’s citrus industry (Colombo). Years passed before Florida was able to fully recover while the rest of the country was starting to enjoy the boom of the Roaring Twenties. However, due to Florida’s poor financial state, the stock market crash of 1929 and the emerging of the Great Depression, barely affected the sunshine state