Ian inflicts staggering losses on Florida’s growth machine | Florida Trend Real Estate – Florida Trend
Ian inflicts staggering losses on Florida’s growth machine
Hurricane Ian could be the storm that chills entire swaths of Florida’s growth-at-any-cost real estate market. People forced to rebuild their lives will encounter a combination of soaring insurance premiums, construction costs and interest rates — along with the fact that many of the homes inundated by Ian didn’t even have flood insurance. That means the recovery from Ian might look different from past disasters, financial analysts and flood insurance professionals said. More from Politico, National Mortgage Review, and the Daily Business Review.
What Hurricane Ian could mean to Florida’s struggling property insurance industry
Even before Hurricane Ian made landfall, headlines were blaring that the storm would spell doom for Florida’s struggling homeowners insurance market. Just this year, six property insurers have become insolvent, including one declared insolvent on the same day Ian formed as a tropical storm. State insurance regulators are closely monitoring dozens of other companies on the fritz, and homeowners’ premiums have risen to the highest in the nation. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Opinion: Can’t get good service at restaurants? Housing affordability may be to blame
With home prices and rental rates increasing so much, businesses are experiencing hiring difficulties related to the lack of affordable housing. As the COVID pandemic raged on, much was written and said about the so-called “Great Resignation,” in which many service industry workers left their jobs and found other means of supporting themselves, such as home-based businesses. At some point, assuming the laws of supply and demand hold true, it would stand to reason enough people would eventually come forward to fill the positions vacated by those departing workers. High housing costs have complicated the hiring picture, though. [Source: TCPalm]
South Florida home prices fall, but key issue remains
Housing prices fell again last month in Miami-Dade County and dipped for the first time in months in neighboring Broward County, an uplifting sign for aspiring home buyers. Miami-Dade’s median sale price dwindled to $551,250 for a single-family home in August, down from $570,000 the prior month, according to the monthly sales report released Wednesday by the Miami Association of Realtors. Condominium prices also dropped to a $375,000 midpoint from $380,000 in July. [Source: AP]
Commercial real estate is booming in Tampa Bay. Here’s why
The pandemic was an accelerator for commercial real estate trends that were either starting to happen or already happening. From an office standpoint, there were already trends going on around remote work and about the best utilization of office space. On the retail side, there was already an acceleration around the experience. That experience is that more important because they have to get people back into brick and mortar stores. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
$10 million
Calamity besets Versailles once more. The troubled 90,000-square-foot mansion at the heart of the 2012 documentary “Queen of Versailles” suffered $10 million in damages thanks to Hurricane Ian. [Source: The Real Deal]
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› What can you get for $1 million in Pembroke Pines?
For buyers looking for a suburban area geared toward families, Pembroke Pines emerges as a top contender. Situated between two major cities in South Florida, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines offers the ideal combination for young families: proximity to good schools, dining and entertainment plazas and parks.
› Orlando rent falls slightly, as new apartments come online
Orlando rent prices fell in the third quarter of 2022, the first time in three years monthly rents have declined, though one expert says renters shouldn’t expect that to keep happening. Average asking rent in metro Orlando, which includes Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties, went from $1,823 a month in the second quarter to $1,799 by the end of September, according to real estate analysts the CoStar Group.
› Uncertainty in the mortgage market leads to 58 job cuts at Pinellas County bank
The slowing housing market is beginning to cost people their jobs. BayFirst Financial has announced that it is cutting 58 jobs in its Clearwater mortgage division “due to the continuing decline in mortgage volume leading to division losses, along with the uncertainty of the outlook of mortgage lending in the near- to mid-term.” The layoffs, according to a letter to the state, will begin Nov. 25 and include employees working in or reporting to BayFirst’s residential mortgage division on Countryside Boulevard in Clearwater.
› The Villages to present plan for 3,000 more homes southwest of Florida Turnpike
The Villages will present a plan to a special magistrate this week for 3,000 more homes in the Villages of Southern Oaks. The Villages Development Company LLC is seeking to put the homes on 1,459 acres which are located a little over a mile southwest of the Florida Turnpike and east of Marsh Bend Trail. Though a part of The Villages, the homes would also be within the City of Wildwood.
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