Mortgage demand at 22-year low as interest rates climb

Mortgage demand at 22-year low as interest rates climb

Mortgage demand is at its lowest level in decades. Demand is about half of what it was a year ago. This is happening as interest rates are going up again and houses are taking longer to sell. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped a little bit in May, but rose again this past week to start the month from 5.3% to 5.4%, that’s for homes where buyers put down 20%. That rate was a little more than 3% at this time last year. [Source: WJXT]

Wave of Florida homeowners forced to use Citizens Insurance

Homeowners in Florida are signing up for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation at a frantic pace as hurricane season begins and the state's insurance crisis seems to deepen. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is currently writing policies at a frantic rate, approaching 900,000 in Florida. It's an issue that can have consequences for all Floridians. [Source: WPTV]

The last 12 houses on Florida’s Fisher Island are up for sale

Fisher Island, a wealthy enclave just south of Miami Beach, is accessible only by ferry or helicopter. The roughly 800 residences on the island, nearly all of them condominiums, have been occupied by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Boris Becker. Now, the community, which for years claimed the title of America’s richest zip code (it’s currently at No. 5) will have 12 new single-family homes. [Source: Bloomberg]

Real estate degrees: Necessary or just dressing?

The pandemic has forced commercial real estate to consider whether it’s not just who you know, but what you know. The question becomes how you learn what you need to. There is much you can gain on the job, but there’s also a place for formal education, whether an undergraduate or graduate degree, or continuing education programs. The challenge can be balancing both, considering time and costs. [Source: Globe St.]

Central Florida affordable housing advocates facing opposition

Profit-driven development and spiraling costs for land are two of the biggest roadblocks to increase the supply of affordable homes and apartments in Central Florida, a housing crisis compounded by skyrocketing rents and home values. In Orange County, with 1.4 million people, there are 33,646 apartments and other housing types that are considered affordable, according to the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at University of Florida. Vacancies in such units are practically mythical. More from the Orlando Sentinel and WESH.

ALSO TRENDING:

› Amazon likely to reduce warehouse space in South Florida amid e-commerce slowdown [South Florida Business Journal]
Amazon.com Inc. is expected to scale back its warehouse holdings nationally, including in Broward County. At a June 8 public meeting, John Biggie, chairman of the Coral Springs Economic Development Advisory Committee and principal of JBI Development, said the Seattle-based e-commerce giant (Nasdaq: AMZN) has "nixed" plans to move into 225,000 square feet within the Commerce Park of Coral Springs. The facility was slated to hire 200 people, according to previous announcements from Amazon.

› Sanibel Island’s last stand against rising seas [Bloomberg]
In an era of climate change and rapidly rising seas, a barrier island is akin to an exhausted, encircled antelope. Of course, houses along the shore have been vulnerable to a voracious sea since long before carbon began branding the wreckage. But the ocean’s volume, appetite and reach are growing. Sanibel Island, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, gives a sense of how a barrier island in the hurricane zone confronts that peril.

› The Villages is home to a unique commercial landscape [The Villages Daily Sun]
Much of the credit for The Villages' success as one of Florida's key economic engines comes from the residents who buy homes and live in the community. Population gains in The Villages amplify residents' importance to a metropolitan statistical area that annually exceeds $3.4 billion in real gross domestic product, a market basket survey of goods and services produced and consumed.

› South Florida investors pays $38 million for eight Jacksonville buildings [Jacksonville Daily Record]
The Easton Group announced June 10 it and Rialto Capital formed a joint venture to pay $38 million for a 335,000-square-foot portfolio of light industrial real estate primarily in South Jacksonville and West Jacksonville. Mac Easton, a partner in North Florida-based Pine Street Partners, and C.J. Easton, an acquisition principal with Doral-based Easton Group, arranged the off-market transaction. Mark Wainwright of Pine Street RPS brokered the deal.

Tags: Real Estate eNews

Previous Real Estate Updates:

• Florida insurance market full of ‘low quality' companies, study finds
• Real estate pros say Florida's future looks bright
• What are squatters' rights? New Florida law targets occupancy fight
• Is trouble brewing in Florida's housing market? Here's what the data says
• Florida is growing. Can affordable housing keep up?
• Florida condo sales plummet despite falling prices and rise in 'motivated' sellers
• Want to get rich quick selling Florida real estate? Think again.
• New law would give new homebuyers better idea what their property taxes will be
• When will housing affordability improve? Spoiler alert: It will take some time