Florida home sellers cutting prices after shooting for the moon

Some home sellers are getting greedy in the scorching housing market, and it’s backfiring on them. Many are setting their prices too high, trying to squeeze out every dollar from buyers who are willing to pay well over the asking price, often with cash. A growing percentage of sellers quickly learn that they’ll have to get real. Some 9.4% of homes on the market in August had reduced prices, up from 8.6% in July, according to Zillow, an online listing service. In May and June, price cuts stood at 7.8% and 7.7% respectively, indicating the overeagerness has spread. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

The cost of insuring expensive waterfront homes is about to skyrocket

Florida’s version of the American dream, which holds that even people of relatively modest means can aspire to live near the water, depends on a few crucial components: sugar white beaches, soft ocean breezes and federal flood insurance that is heavily subsidized. But starting Oct. 1, communities in Florida and elsewhere around the country will see those subsidies begin to disappear in a nationwide experiment in trying to adapt to climate change: Forcing Americans to pay something closer to the real cost of their flood risk, which is rising as the planet warms. [Source: NY Times]

A pandemic space race: Self-storage roars back

Before the pandemic, the industry averaged 3.5% annual growth for more than 30 years, said Roger Morales, the head of commercial real estate acquisitions for the investment firm KKR. After a drop in the first half of 2020, self-storage has roared back, buoyed by Americans carving out space for home offices or classrooms, as well as those who left urban centers to ride out the pandemic at their parents’ homes. Occupancy rates and rents are at record highs. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Real estate stocks slide as China spooks investors

China’s real estate sector rankled investors this week as the country’s second largest property developer missed a deadline to pay its overseas bondholders. Evergrande, which has built residences in every one of China’s regions, now has 30 days to cure the coupon payment before it defaults. Investor uncertainty over China has grown since regulators scuttled Blackstone Group’s $3 billion deal to acquire property developer Soho China amid a political crackdown on wealthy executives, including billionaire Soho China founders Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin. [Source: The Real Deal]

New luxury condos reach for the sky — and have dizzying price tags to match

For many high-rise condo dwellers who are looking to leave their older buildings, trading up may be hard to do. The fancy new high rises on the drawing boards or about to open are priced above levels that many middle to upper income groups can afford. Meanwhile, prices and sales of existing condos continue to move northward year over year, according to recent figures released by Broward, Palm Beach Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors group. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

ALSO TRENDING:

› Dubai developer revealed as $120M bidder for Surfside collapse site [The Real Deal]
Damac Properties, a Dubai-based developer, is the stalking horse bidder for the collapse site of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, The Real Deal has learned. East Oceanside Development LLC, a Delaware corporation tied to publicly traded Damac, signed a contract to pay $120 million for the oceanfront property.

› San Marco town houses for sale early next year [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Toll Brothers announced Sept. 23 that Terraces at San Marco, its 27-unit luxury town house community next to East San Marco, will open for sale early next year. “This community represents a unique opportunity for homebuyers looking for the latest in contemporary new home designs with an urban appeal,” Steve Merten, division president of Toll Brothers in North Florida, said in a news release.

› Joe Biden taps South Florida real estate magnate Michael Adler as ambassador to Belgium [Florida Politics]
President Joe Biden has tapped a South Florida real estate magnate, longtime Democratic donor and past chair of a Biden presidential campaign to serve as the new U.S. ambassador to Belgium. The White House announced Wednesday Biden nominated Michael Adler, Chair and CEO of Miami-based real estate firm Adler Group, to replace Chicago businessman and Donald Trump appointee Ronald Gidwitz in the role.

› West Palm Beach warehouses developed by billionaire Jeff Greene sell for $60.6M [South Florida Business Journal]
A pair of warehouses near West Palm Beach developed by billionaire Jeff Greene sold for $60.6 million. The 317,499 square feet of warehouses at 1673 and 1715 Meathe Drive in Palm Beach were sold by 2104 Cahuenga Partners LP and 1520 Vista Partners LLC, companies affiliated with Greene, to Green Spaces Property Owner, an affiliate of Dallas-based Dalfen Industrial. The buyer obtained a $54.7 million mortgage from Morgan Hills Group, in care of Square Mile Capital Management.