Investor migration

Housing speculators relocate to hotter spots

LOS ANGELES -- March 22, 2006 -- Scores of real estate investors are fleeing Southern California and taking their profits to more affordable housing markets -- including coastal Florida areas. At its peak in the first half of 2004, investors accounted for 14 percent of sales in Los Angeles and Orange counties. However, investors still make up a large portion of sales in Phoenix, Las Vegas, coastal Florida, and Central and Northern California. According to DataQuick Information Systems, investors and second-home buyers accounted for nearly 40 percent of home sales in Arizona's Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties in 2005.

A good time to buy... Before all those new investors arrive...