More than 556,000 single-family homes were available for sale nationwide as of last Friday, according to the latest data from Altos Research. That puts the national inventory up 31.9% year-over-year, extending a 24-week streak of year-over-year increases. Listings are still a fraction of their pre-Covid levels despite the strong year-over-year growth. But Texas and Florida are making national listing growth appear rosier than it otherwise would. Active listing growth is highly concentrated in just Texas and Florida.

Source: Housing Wire

Share of National Listings

Year over Year Change 

in Active Listings by GEO Group

There were 23.5% more homes actively for sale on a typical day in March compared with the same time in 2023, marking the fifth consecutive month of annual inventory growth. 

For the first three months of this year, the inventory of homes actively for sale was at its highest level since 2020. However, while inventory this March is much improved compared with the previous three years, it is still down 37.9% compared with typical 2017 to 2019 levels. 

The inventory of homes actively for sale increased in 45 out of 50 of the largest metros compared with last year, and in four large metros, inventory was above pre-pandemic levels. Metros that saw the most inventory growth included Tampa (+58.3%), Orlando (53.3%), and Miami (48.2%). In large Florida metros, the growth in inventory was primarily driven by an increase in the availability of attached homes (condos, townhomes, or row homes). 

Source:REALTOR.com

Tampa Bay Metro

Year over Year Changes

Florida’s pandemic-era real estate boom has catapulted Florida to the top of the most expensive neighborhood list — knocking once-thriving Manhattan hot spots out of the top 10 and cutting Beverly Hills down to size. 

In all, Florida is home to seven of the nation’s most expensive neighborhoods when measured by housing prices, the data showed.

The most expensive neighborhood in the country is in the Coral Gables section of Miami, where a home in the gated Gables Estates community is on the market for more than $21 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. 

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Source:The New York Post

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that he promises will “put an end to the squatter scam” in Florida.

DeSantis signed House Bill 621, which allows a property owner to ask law enforcement to remove squatters from properties and creates penalties for those who violate the law. 

The law would not apply to former or current tenants involved in a legal dispute with the landlord. The property owner has to have directed the squatter to leave the property before calling the police, and the individual must have unlawfully entered the property. 

The properties have to include a residential dwelling unit, so the law wouldn’t apply to vacant land, for example. 

If someone falsely claims in writing to have property rights for the home, like having a fake lease or deed, they could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor under HB 621. Those who unlawfully occupy or trespass and cause $1,000 or more in damages will face second-degree felony charges. And anyone who knowingly advertises a residential property for sale or rent without the authority to do so will face a first-degree felony charge. 

Source:The Real Deal

Eight new insurance companies will now be able to enter the state and begin writing homeowners insurance policies.

The move was announced Wednesday by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) as the state continues to make efforts to stabilize the home insurance market, which has seen rates skyrocket in recent years.

This announcement comes after the state approved six new property insurance companies to enter the Florida market in January.

For the most part, industry experts said the relief that residents are hoping for might not arrive until 2025 at the earliest.

Source:WPTV 

Florida’s private home insurers turned a profit for the first time in seven years in 2023, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence, despite the insurance crisis still unfolding in the state.

The experts’ report, issued this week, shows that the group of about 50 insurers operating in Florida made $147.3 million in net income last year, thanks to “a significant swing in investment income and much improved underwriting results.” In 2021 and 2022, the group reported net losses of more than $1 billion each year.

The turnaround for 2023 was due in part to heightened investment income, along with improved underwriting losses aided by no major hurricane losses in the state last year, said the report by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The group analyzed does not include Florida’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has drastically increased its number of policyholders in the past couple of years as many private insurers left the state or limited their offerings.

Source: Newsweek and Insurance Journal

The Federal Reserve announced that it’s holding interest rates steady this week leaving the federal funds rate at a target range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent. It’s the sixth time in the last seven meetings that the Fed has left rates unchanged, though the central bank has raised rates a total of 11 times during this economic cycle in an effort to tamp down high inflation. 

While the federal funds rate doesn’t really impact mortgage rates which depend largely on the 10-year Treasury yield, they’re often moving the same way for similar reasons. With the 10-year Treasury yield falling to end 2023 and then bouncing around to start 2024, mortgage rates have gone along for the ride.

Source: Bank Rate

State lawmakers in Tallahassee recently passed a bill that gives the state more control and preempts a local government’s power to regulate things like a vacation rental’s quiet hours or overnight occupancy limit.

Supporters of the bill, like sponsor Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R-Pinellas), has said it will provide the state uniformity and allow for the regulation of vacation rentals without allowing certain local governments to over-regulate them.

The bill does set statewide overnight occupancy limits and allows local governments to maintain a registration system. However, other ordinances set forth by local municipalities like quite hours, parking limitations and number of guests reduced could be overwritten. 

Source: WFTS-TV

The Legislature has struggled for nearly a decade to give the state more power to regulate platforms like Airbnb 

With just two days left to go before the 2024 Florida legislative session ends, the State House approved a short-term vacation rental measure to adopt new regulations on rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo. But the Senate has to approve the legislation as well.

In February this year, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 280, which establishes local registration programs for short-term rentals, limits the number of guests in rental properties and puts in place penalties for rentals that violate local ordinances.

Critics of the bill say the legislation is not restrictive enough to appease constituents dealing with unruly tourists, and that local governments are better equipped to deal with the issue, especially in places that have more restrictive rules than what the legislation lays out.

On the other hand, other critics maintain local governments will have no limit to what they can charge for the registration and inspection of short-term rentals. They will also be able to use minor infractions as a way to suspend short-term rentals, revoke their registration and prevent them from gaining that registration back without enduring a lengthy and costly judicial process.

A 44-page amendment with new provisions was added a day prior to the house vote to make it more palatable to members who have expressed concerns about the legislation.

Source: Florida Phoenix

They are called surplus-line companies, including Lloyd’s of London

Florida lawmakers seem to be moving closer to allowing more insurance companies to make offers to Citizens’ homeowner policyholders of vacation and second homes.

SB 1716 this week cleared the Senate’s Fiscal Policy Committee for the takeout offers.

Earlier this month the Senate’s Banking and Insurance Committee approved the measure.

The bill would allow surplus line insurers to start making takeout offers to Citizens’ policyholders who have second and vacation homes.

Citizens has been involved for the last year with an effort to have private insurers make these offers to try to shed policies and its financial exposure to claims.

Surplus line insurers operate differently than traditional or admitted insurance companies in the state and they are regulated differently and are typically headquartered and domiciled outside of the United States.

The bulk of Citizens’ takeout offers are still with single-family homes in Florida. With houses and condos, those takeout offers can be refused if the offer is over 20% of what policyholders are currently paying with Citizens.

Source: wptv.com