Florida dominates in mortgage application defects

The frequency of defects, fraudulence and misrepresentation in the information submitted in mortgage loan applications during June was seven percent lower from the previous month but 3.9 percent higher than one year ago, according to new data from First American Financial Corp. First American’s Defect Index for refinance transactions in June was down by 6.5 percent from May, but up 4.3 percent compared with June 2018. The Defect Index for purchase transactions decreased by 7.8 percent month-over-month but rose 3.8 percent year-over-year. [Source: National Mortgage Professional]

Can South Florida’s housing crisis be solved? Here’s what other cities are doing about theirs

South Florida’s housing affordability crisis is dire, but it’s certainly not unique. Nearly every major city in North America is struggling with the prosperity gap that prevents residents from being able to buy or rent a home within their budgetary means. What caused the epidemic? Every city has its own unique set of variables at play, but some broad similarities exist. [Source: Miami Herald]

What a Fed Reserve rate cut could mean to the U.S. housing market

Commercial developers will find it easier to finance projects, but the biggest gain will be in single-family homes, according to Noah Breakstone, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based land investor and developer. Breakstone said a Fed rate cut — even by as little as a quarter of a percentage point as expected — will lead to the increase in the overall supply of single-family homes across the country. [Source: Real Deal]

Commercial real estate investment holds steady in first half of 2019

Commercial real estate analysts have expected investment pricing to dip this year somewhat in response to the maturity of the economic growth cycle — now the longest in duration in U.S. history — a cooling of foreign investment, lower yields in some asset classes and increased underwriting criteria among private equity and other investors, to name a few factors. But interest among asset classes has remained stable. [Source: Business Observer]

Looking for a beach house? It’ll cost you

Even with the effects of climate change turning coastal properties into cause for anxiety, there remains a strong demand. At least that’s the consensus of five real estate brokers interviewed for this special “What You Get” column devoted to beach houses. “The stock market’s doing well; there is more discretionary income for people who want to realize the dream of a tropical getaway,” said Jeffrey Burns, an agent at Premier Sotheby’s International Realty on Captiva Island, a sliver of land off the Florida Gulf Coast. [Source: NY Times]

ALSO TRENDING:

› Airbnb settles federal lawsuit against Miami Beach over business and resort tax disclosures [The Real Deal]
Airbnb has settled a federal lawsuit it brought against the city of Miami Beach, and both sides are claiming victory. The vacation rental tech company sued Miami Beach in late 2018, after the city commission passed new regulations. Those measures require Airbnb to display the resort tax account and business tax receipt numbers for each listing by their hosts within zones that allow short-term rentals.

› The Mooch gets invite to speak at South Florida real estate event [Palm Beach Post]
The Mooch is coming to South Florida after all. The South Florida chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate development association, announced Wednesday that Anthony Scaramucci will be headlining its annual Signature Speaker Series on Oct. 23 in Fort Lauderdale. The announcement comes just two weeks after the Palm Beach County GOP disinvited Scaramucci from its annual LobsterFest fundraiser in Boca Raton.

› Downtown Jacksonville breaks 5,000-resident mark [Florida Times-Union]
Downtown Jacksonville has gone through celebratory grand openings and dashed development deals, corporate departures for the suburbs and company relocations back to office towers, booming real estate cycles and bubble-bursting recessions. Through it all, the guide star for downtown boosters for the past 20 years has been the pursuit of getting 10,000 residents to make downtown their home address.

› Miami developer planning what could be a $2 billion project south of downtown St. Petersburg [Tampa Bay Times]
A Miami developer is planning what could be a $2 billion project that would transform a now-sleepy area south of downtown St. Petersburg. The project by Royal Palm Companies would include both affordable and high-end housing on roughly 50 acres bordered by Fourth Street S and Bay Street, and 14th and 18th avenues SE, according to property owners who have been approached about selling.