Southeast golf areas steer clear of sub-prime mess, show stability

    You have to go pretty deep into the list of metro areas with the highest rate of sub-prime mortgages delinquencies before you come to an area in the southeastern U.S.  The Wall Street Journal on Thursday (3/29) published a list of the 30 areas that suffered the highest rate of delinquencies in 2006 compared with the prior year.  Cities in California led the list, with Sacramento at the top with a 10.7% year over year increase.  We noted some surprising weakness in Massachusetts (blue collar Brockton had the third highest rate at 9.7%).
    Melbourne, FL, at #27, was the only area in the southeast to make the top-30 list, which was published in the print edition of the Journal.  On an extended list at the Journal’s online web site, other Florida metro areas were listed in the top 50, but you have to go all the way down to 59th place before you find a non-Florida city in the southeast, Danville, VA, not exactly a hotbed for golf communities.  The first southeast city, outside of Florida, that we consider to be a lure to golfers and/or retirees is 101st ranked Athens, GA, where delinquencies increased 4.33% year over year.  Athens is an up and coming university town that offers a vibrancy and range of living options we’ve come to expect from towns with a major university, in this case the University of Georgia.
    Cities in the Carolinas were much farther down the list.  The list is available at the Journal's online site.