Florida land boom of the 1920s
The Florida land boom in 1926 was Florida's first real estate bubble. They burst in 1925, leaving behind a series of planned on the drawing board new towns and development projects, such as the Isola di Lolando in the north of Biscayne Bay. Through the establishment of cities on the green meadow, which still exist today, Florida's future has been affected for decades in advance.
The economic prosperity has created the conditions for the developing land speculation in Florida in the 1920s. Miami had acquired an image of a tropical paradise and investors from across the United States became interested in real estate in Miami. Due in part to the ability of Lander closers to ensure publicity - such as Carl G. Fisher of Miami Beach, the notoriety that gained that he has a huge illuminated billboard rented on Times Square in New York City, who pointed out "It's June In Miami " - increased the prices of property and on speculation started a real estate and development boom.
In January 1925 the press were negative loud. Forbes magazine warned that the price of land in Florida, only based on the expectation of finding a subsequent buyer and not on a real land value. New York bankers and the Internal Revenue Service began independently to dissect the real estate boom in Florida as a huge deception operation. The desire of investors for high speculative profits became increasingly illusory, because new buyers found difficult. The inevitable bursting of the bubble had begun.
In October 1925, the railway companies tried to improve the situation overused in Florida's rail network and imposed a ban on all goods except foodstuffs and the rising cost of living grew even stronger. New buyer failed to materialize and therefore ended the price spiral, which had fueled the land boom. The days on which properties were bought in Miami ten times in one day auction and sold, were over.
On 10 January 1926, the 80 m schooner Prince Valdemar capsized in the entrance of the port of Miami. The former Danish warship was on his way to Florida to be converted into a floating hotel.
The railways, which were occupied by the demand for transportation of construction materials and food, raised their freight rates. Since the sea route was blocked to Miami, the Miami's face began to crumble as a tropical paradise. In his book " Miami Millions" wrote Kenneth Ballinger that the capsizing of Prince Valdemar has saved many people a lot of money.
In the same year the Miami Hurricanes in 1926 brought bankruptcy to many ailing development projects. The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 and the Black Friday of 1929 were other key issues for the downward trend of economic development of the state and the land boom ended, even before the Great Depression began properly. This recession and the arrival of the Mediterranean fruit fly hit hard in the tourism industry and the producers of citrus fruits, of which Florida was dependent. Within a few years an idyllic tropical paradise turned into a pale, moist and remote area with no economic prospects. The Florida economy did not recover until after the Second World War.