Summer heats up Florida real estate: Does summer season help home buyers or sellers?

If you're a prospective home buyer, you might be better off waiting until autumn before making an offer, experts say. Summer is typically the most competitive time to buy a home. It's when households with school-aged children take advantage of the break from school to move to a new neighborhood and sometimes a new school district. There's no "summer vacation" for the real estate market. Both sale prices and the number of sales tend to increase in the summer, according to a seasonal analysis by the National Association of Realtors. [Source: TC Palm]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Artistic vision

Over the past five years, Northwest Florida — from Tallahassee to Panama City and Pensacola — has seen an epic surge of home building. Tens of thousands of single-family homes, apartments and condominiums have been built, with many more thousands in the pipeline and currently under construction. Of all these dwellings, one stands out from the rest. Located within a few hundred yards of where Navy Federal Credit Union’s $1-billion campus in Pensacola sits, the 52 World complex includes 206 apartments, townhomes and lofts. [Source: Florida Trend]

New Florida laws will impact property owners: Here's what to know

The 2025 Florida Legislative session has wrapped up, and the Florida Association of Realtors is calling it a major victory for property owners and the real estate market. With a combination of targeted budget allocations and new laws, the session addressed a range of housing and property issues across the state. [Source: WTVT]

Florida's Live Local Act wanted to spur affordable housing, but has it?

Florida's Live Local Act aims to create more affordable housing, but faces criticism for loopholes and preemption of local control. Many counties and cities have opted out of a key tax-break incentive for developers building middle-income housing. While the act has spurred some affordable housing projects, concerns remain about its effectiveness and impact on infrastructure. [Source: Palm Beach Post]

MV Realty to allow Florida homeowners out of 40-year listing contracts

Months after it was slated to begin terminating contracts, MV Realty has finally started to allow customers in Florida to break their 40-year right-to-list contracts. In February 2025, a judge in Florida ordered the company to begin canceling its contracts in the state within two weeks. The state has said the company failed to comply with the order until it recently began terminating contracts. More from Housing Wire and the Tampa Bay Times.

STAT OF THE WEEK
$230 million
Related Group closed on $230 million of construction financing for Andare Residences Design by Pininfarina, a 163-condominium tower going up in downtown Fort Lauderdale. [Source: South Florida Agent Magazine]

ALSO TRENDING:

› Clearwater apartments will be converted back to affordable housing [Tampa Bay Times]
For 50 years, Prospect Towers in Clearwater was a safe haven for low-income seniors. That all changed when a hedge fund purchased the building in 2020 and rebranded as “The Indigo.” The company raised the rent, displacing dozens of residents and eliminating more than 200 units of desperately-needed affordable housing. Now, the building will once again become housing for some of the city’s poorest residents.

› More homes going up in Tallahassee and it’s changing the housing market [WTXL]
From apartments to homes, new housing options are popping up across Tallahassee. It's a wave of development that's hard to miss. “There's lots of choices, you know, anything from really tiny homes that are 1,200 square feet, you know, up to luxury in homes,” Hettie Spooner said. So, what's driving this surge?

› 'Worth nothing': Dispute on Orlando Fashion Square's value leaves prime real estate in limbo [Orlando Business Journal]
The two major parties in control of the fate of Orlando Fashion Square mall appear to be nowhere close to finding an agreement. Wilmington, Delaware-based The Bancorp Inc., which owns the two-story, 625,000-square-foot mall's buildings on the property and holds a ground lease for the site through 2071, and prolific Orlando developer Chuck Whittall of Unicorp National Development, which owns the dirt underneath the mall, appear to strongly disagree on the value of the property at 3201 E. Colonial Drive.

› What’s driving Miami’s love affair with “small-space living,” now ranked 20th in the US for micro-housing density? [Islander News]
Tiny apartments with a view, anyone? Recent trends have shown people are adopting a “less is more” mindset with just about everything – living spaces included. Now called “small-space living,” the phenomenon has taken the nation by storm. Especially navigating recent economic trends and high cost of housing, renters of all ages are drawn to lower price points and amenity-rich, transit-oriented communities.

Floridians set to break holiday travel record