Property flipping took toll on Florida housing market

The Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune reviewed 19 million Florida real estate transactions to determine the impact of housing fraud on the collapse of the housing market. "The year-long investigation found that more than 50,000 Florida properties were flipped under suspicious circumstances from 2000 through 2008. Those flips artificially drove up housing prices and tax bills and contributed to the crush of foreclosures that has gutted the real estate market." In Sarasota and Manatee counties, nearly half a billion dollars in defaults are linked to professional property flippers.