FOX Business’ Ashley Webster reports from a for-sale townhome in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the local market is feeling some of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse impact.
From one coast to another, the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has now sent tidal waves to Florida’s real estate market, one broker claimed on “Varney & Co.” Thursday.
“It’s definitely cooled down a bit. Gone are the days when we would put properties on the market and we would expect a bidding war within a few days,” Sandals Realty Group broker Amanda Glass told FOX Business’ Ashley Webster. “It’s not happening anymore.”
According to the real estate expert, SVB’s insolvency causing bank-run contagion fears didn’t help the stability of the economy or mortgage rates. Even though mortgage rates currently remain up and homeowners may want to sell as soon as possible, there’s no guarantee they can secure an affordable mortgage elsewhere, causing some residents to stay put.
As of Thursday afternoon, mortgage rates plunged a quarter of a percentage point or more for all key repayment terms, with 30-year rates diving back below the 6% mark. Homebuyers who want a low-interest rate and smaller monthly payments may want to lock in a 30-year rate today, ahead of likely rate fluctuations, according to Credible.
“In addition to that, they’ll probably have higher property taxes, increased insurance. It all plays a factor into it,” Glass said.
Sandals Realty Group broker Amanda Glass said Florida is shifting towards a “buyer’s market” on “Varney & Co.” Thursday. | Getty Images
The number of homes sold in Palm Beach County have also decreased, with data from FloridaRealtors.org showing single-family home sales are down 21% and condo sales 38% from one year ago.
“It’s definitely shifted more towards a buyer’s market. The sellers have to do what buyers are interested in at this point and adjust more accordingly,” Glass said.
The number of investors buying up property to then rent out in the Sunshine State has shifted with recent market changes as well, the broker noted.
‘Mansion Global’ host Katrina Campins illuminates the latest trends in real estate as brokers are leaving en masse while Florida neighborhoods continue to rise in price on ‘The Big Money Show.’
“It’s adjusting because they’re not quite getting the rate of return that they used to before when they could invest in Florida real estate,” she explained. “It’s different now.”
Working in the industry for 19 years, Glass additionally pointed out a recent surge in the number of real estate agents leaving the “tough” and transitory market. A recent report from the National Association of Realtors indicated agent membership will dip this year after January numbers showed a significant decline from its October 2022 peak.
“I [worked] through the whole short sale and foreclosure crisis and everything, and back then I saw them leave, and now I’m seeing it happen again more and more,” she detailed.
FOX Business’ Ashley Webster reports from Clearwater, Florida, where he’s talking to former blue state residents about why they moved south.
Nearly 1,000 new residents are moving to the Sunshine State every day and will need homes to live and thrive in, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis told Fox News Digital earlier this month.
“We think it’s about $24 billion in the last year of new recurring wealth that has come to the state of Florida, whether it be small businesses or just couples,” Patronis said. “In comparison, California has lost $18 billion in recurring wealth. So that is a compounding effect that really drives down the cost of living for, especially, young families in our state.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
