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STAFF REPORT
Occupancy rates in Sarasota, Bradenton and Venice apartment complexes dropped nearly 5 percent during the past year and could be an indication that average rents won’t rise much in the months ahead, according to data released Thursday.
The local increase in apartment vacancies reflects a similar trend in every metropolitan area tracked by RealFacts, a […]
With the number of homes on the market more than double what they were last year and prices leveling out, many investors are searching for new properties.
“We’re looking north and south,” said Roselyn Britton, an investor who owns several properties in Sarasota.
A combination of low mortgage rates and more reasonable home prices has Britton looking. […]
It’s getting more difficult to build projects involving mixed-income housing. CED Construction, a workforce housing developer, says rising land prices and the need for new schools and road upgrades make it difficult for it to profitably build mixed-income housing. Officials say the company’s $36 million Marbella project in Orange County, where 40 percent of units […]
Seller financing has become more of a topic in potential real estate transactions recently. Property owners appear more willing to negotiate terms that help close a deal with a buyer who may not be able to meet the requirements of a regular mortgage lender, says Walter Molony, a spokesman for NAR. High lending rates in […]
Present Market Conditions
Early reports for the end of 2006 look to be mostly favorable.Unprecedented figures for the stock market as well as record earnings reports helped to offset a downturn in the national housing market. Financial markets will experience another short week, being closed for New Year’s Day as well as the national day of […]
It’s difficult for housing experts to determine whether the market has finally bottomed out, especially since home sales typically slow during the winter months. Moreover, Census data shows that 4.6 percent of the nation’s for-sale and rental homes, or 5.7 million units, sat vacant in the third quarter — up from an average 3.5 percent […]
After three solid months of gains, consumer confidence in Florida fell in December by four points to 89, University of Florida (UF) economists report. “The release this month shows a Florida consumer who is still reasonably optimistic about the economy at present but is expecting a decline in their finances and the overall economy over […]
The bull market in commercial real estate made 2006 a record year, and many believe 2007 will be just as good.
“There’s just a lot of cash in the system chasing assets that throw off a yield,” says Michael H. Winer, who manages the Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund. “As long as the liquidity is […]
Seeking happiness? An Australian researcher finds that making payments on a mortgage is a good way to feel better. Professor Bob Cummins of Deakin University told the Sydney Morning Herald that his studies of well-being have found that homeowners are more content than renters at all levels of income. Renters tend to be more footloose, […]
Charlotte County home sellers may have finally learned that the boom market is over — at least for now.
Supply and demand seem to be finding a new equilibrium in the Punta Gorda metropolitan statistical area, which also includes all of unincorporated Charlotte County, according to October existing-home sales figures released Tuesday by the Florida Association […]
Cities are struggling to adequately meet the housing needs of lower-income working families, those with disabilities, people in transition, and immigrant families. At the same time, three-fourths of local housing officials report that the spiraling cost of housing is significantly limiting the opportunities for homeownership for lower-income people and younger families. These findings are part […]
Brevard County’s housing market continued to be in the doldrums in November, according to the latest statistics from the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.
The number of housing construction permits issued countywide in November was 235, down from 613 permits in November 2005 and down from a short-lived increase of 512 permits in October […]
Buyers and sellers are waiting for the other to blink: The housing slowdown isn’t giving buyers the big bargains that they might have hoped; and where there are discounts, buyers aren’t leaping to grab them, says Karl E. Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College, who specializes in real estate. Case says the most recent […]
As real estate cooled this year, teardowns plummeted by at least 20 percent nationally, roughly corresponding to the drop in housing starts, says Stephen Melman of the National Association of Home Builders.
That news was greeted with delight by preservationists, but few believe it will last.
The potential profits of teardowns simply are too attractive to dissuade […]
A new study by the Consumer Federation of America found that in 2005 about one third of women took out mortgages with interest rates over 7.66 percent (above the average prime mortgage rate of 5.87 percent) compared with about a quarter of men. The study, which examined 4.4 million mortgage originations throughout the country, also […]