#Orlando’s red-hot real estate market may be cooling off. The November real estate report from the Orlando Regional Realtor Association released Monday shows home sales are down and the supply of houses on the market is up as interest raise continue to increase.
Home sales fell 6.9 percent during the month to 2,575 while the number of #homes#for sale grew to a 3.3-month supply, the biggest inventory since September 2017.
Real estate agents and analysts say increasing interest rates are giving buyers pause. The average interest rate for area homebuyers in November increased to 4.97 percent, up from 3.97 percent during the same month last year.
“There has been a shock in how quickly interest rates have gone up,” said Eric Soto, a real estate #agent and co-owner of TC Orlando Homes based in Altamonte Springs.
It mirrors trends nationally, where both sales and price growth is slowing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of U.S. homes sold in October dropped 8.9 percent compared with a year ago, the agency’s most recent report said.
In Metro Orlando in November, the average price of a single-family home in the area increased to $251,000, up $1,100 from the month before. Rising average prices combined with slower sales are usually an indication of a decrease in sales of less-expensive homes.
But though there are more homes available, it’s still far from a buyers market, Soto said.
“There may be more homes than there were a few months ago but only a few hundred,” he said.
Several times in the past 18 months, the Federal Reserve has raised the key lending rate that helps determine the rate on 30-year fixed mortgages. Only recently have those policymakers indicated that they may hold off on more hikes.
#Zillow economist Jeff Tucker said home supply is up in many markets across the country. But he, too, wouldn’t call it a huge increase.
“This is certainly not looking like an inventory spike,” he said. “It’s just coming up from really low levels.”ADVERTISING
A five- or six- month supply of homes is a good equilibrium between buyers and sellers, Tucker said. Even at a 3.3-month supply, sellers still have control over the market, he said.
“It’s a bit of a breather for buyers, though,” Tucker said. “But there is a downside with interest rates rising.”
Tucker said rising interest rates may delay buyers from making purchases but doesn’t stop them completely.
What it may impact is affordability. Buyers can expect to pay about $148 more per month on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with interest rates increasing from 3.97 to 4.97 percent, according to Bankrate.
Alex Vastardis, a Dr. Phillips area real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, said there was a slowdown in November, particularly for homes for less than $300,000. However, homes in Windermere, Dr. Phillips and Winter Garden are still in high demand. New homes are still selling well too, he said.
But since real estate decisions are often dictated by other factors such as new jobs or relocations, Vastardis said he still has a lot of customers coming into his office looking for new homes.
“December is usually a pretty positive month because people want to sell their homes or get into a new one before the end of the year,” Vastardis said.
Robinson Cocktail Room is under construction on the second floor of the Robinson building at 63 E. Pine Street. It’s described by the owners, Team Market Group, as a modern craft cocktail bar.
Robinson Cocktail Room is under construction on the second floor of the Robinson building at 63 E. Pine Street. It’s described by the owners, Team Market Group, as a modern craft cocktail bar.
The first floor of the Robinson building will be familiar to Daily City readers as the former home of Red Mug Diner. The two story brick structure was built around or before 1900. The structure is a contributing structure in the Downtown Historic District. The original transom windows visible above the canopy had been covered over. The store front area appears to have been altered several times during the life of the building.
A year ago TMG built a walled-in staircase inside the Red Mug Diner Space that leads from the second story club space down to a brand new front door on the first floor leading out to Pine Street.
TMG asked The Daily City back in January 2017 what we thought the space should become. Here are our answers.
This week, as part of the #RenterWeekofAction, September 18 to 23, renters in over 45 cities will take to the streets to demand better protections from #displacement and more #community control over land and h
Recognizing the severity of the #housing affordability crisis facing renters from Oakland to Miami and the need for policy solutions, the National Equity Atlas, a partnership between PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, analyzed the growth of renters in the nation and in 37 cities, their contributions to the #economy, and what renters and the United States stand to gain if housing were affordable.
We found that renters now represent the majority in the 100 largest cities in the U.S. and are growing as a share of the population nationwide, comprising 35 percent of the population — a 27 percent increase since 2000. Renters also make tremendous contributions to economic, social and political life. They bring vitality, culture and connection to their neighborhoods and cities; they vote and volunteer in local schools; they bring dollars into their communities. Nationally, they spend $1.5 trillion per year after paying for rent and utilities, contributing billions to local economies across the country.
But that spending power has been shrinking. Renters, in many cities, are also facing a toxic mix of rising rents and declining incomes. Since 2000, median rents increased by 9 percent while median renter household incomes decreased by 11 percent. And these are real, inflation-adjusted changes. Given these circumstances, it’s not surprising that more than half of renter households now spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities, up from 39 percent in 2000. Today, nearly 50 million people nationwide live in rent-burdened households.
If no renter households paid more than 30 percent of income on rent, they would have an extra $124 billion to put back into their family budgets where they could pay for the basics like healthcare, child care, transportation or food. This $124 billion in renters’ pockets averages out to roughly $6,200 per rent-burdened household. This is enough for 90 percent of an entire food budget, nearly two-thirds the cost of child care, almost all transportation costs, or two-thirds the cost of tuition at a public four-year university (living expenses are based on a three-person household). Across the largest 100 cities, the average gains per household range from roughly $13,000 in Irvine, California, to $4,000 in El Paso, Texas. In all cities, it would provide an opportunity for families to save and invest in their futures.
It would also improve the health and livelihoods of the nation’s most vulnerable renters. Nearly one in five households is paying more than half of their income on rent nationally. Studies have shown that these severely rent-burdened households spend less than half others do on food, which is often cheaper and less nutritious. And when those families are finally able to secure housing vouchers (often after years on a waiting list), one of the largest spending categories of the additional cost savings is food.
What’s Holding Us Back? Every year, renters are evicted from their #homes by the millions. And landlords and corporate investors are profiting off of these evictions. One of the major findings of Matthew Desmond’s research in his bestselling book, “Evicted,”was that evictions are not just a condition, but a cause, of poverty. After evictions, families are often compelled to accept substandard housing, and dealing with the aftermath of an eviction can lead to job loss. Eviction and housing instability also have serious mental health consequences. Recently, there have even been cases of landlords threatening immigrant tenants with deportations if they refuse to leave, if they make complaints about housing conditions, or if they challenge rent increases.
The housing affordability crisis is not only taking a toll on renters, it’s also impacting municipal pocketbooks. Research from the Urban Institute shows how renters’ economic and housing insecurity drains city budgets: In a typical year, one in four households experiences an income disruption due to job loss, health or a pay cut of 50 percent or more. And this has major cost implications for cities when it comes to homeless services, unpaid utilities and uncollected property taxes. One remedy is reducing evictions by providing legal counsel to tenants facing eviction. Just this year, NYC became the first city to guarantee lawyers to tenants who are facing eviction.
This affordability crisis is particularly wearing on black and brown women and their children. Desmond’s research also found that one in five black women renters report being evicted at some point in their lives. For white women, it was one in 15. Families with kids were also three times as likely to get evicted than those without kids (even after controlling for how much money they owed a landlord).
Our analysis found that women of color are the most impacted by the renter crisis. Six in 10 women of color-headed households are rent-burdened nationally while the number drops to four in 10 among white men-headed households. Importantly, there are roughly the same number of renter households headed by white men (11 million) as there are renter households headed by women of color (10.8 million).
Women of Color Continue to Face the Steepest Rent Burdens Share of renter households paying more than 30 percent of income on rent, 2000 and 2015
There Is a Better Way Evictions and displacement are violent and disruptive. They cut tenants off from their communities, schools, doctors, services, places of worship and their homes. Policymakers at all levels need to address the renter affordability crisis. They should support policies that strengthen the social and economic vitality of our communities. These policy opportunities include:
Tenant protections like just cause eviction and rent control ordinances, as well as eviction prevention. New York City was the first to provide legal counsel to low-income tenants facing eviction, the vast majority of whom go to eviction court without a lawyer. Baltimore and Philadelphia are among a growing list of cities considering similar tenants’ right to counsel laws.
Full funding for HUD: There are multiple federal funding sources for direct housing assistance (including public housing, Housing Choice vouchers and Section 8), but only one in four eligible families actually receives any kind of assistance. In many cities, the waiting list is measured in decades or closed. Each year, federal expenditures for direct housing assistance is just a fraction of what is spent on homeowner tax benefits (most of which go to wealthy families). Still, President Donald Trump’s administration and HUD Secretary Ben Carson are attempting to drastically cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget.
Community ownership of land and housing through the creation of community land trusts, as well as ensuring that public land is used for the public good, and not just sold to the highest bidder.
Diverse affordable housing strategies: The production of affordable housing (via affordable housing linkage/impact fees or inclusionary zoning), as well as the preservation of single-room occupancies (SROs) and “naturally occurring affordable housing.”
Living #wages: The other piece of the housing crisis puzzle is stagnating wages and the need to raise the floor on low-wage work. From 2000 to 2015, median renter household income declined in real terms in 88 of the 100 largest U.S. cities. Policymakers and employers should support minimum wage increases and living wage ordinances.
Orlando held steady in 2018 as the 2 destination of choice for Florida’s #international homebuyers, according to the National Association of REALTORS’® 2018 Profile of International Residential Real Estate Activity in Florida. Nine percent of all of Florida’s international homebuyers opted to purchase a property in Orlando.“The international real estate market is important to the sustainment of both Orlando’s real estate industry and its overall #economy,” says Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association President Lou Nimkoff, Brio Real Estate Services LLC. “The profile’s results show that foreign #buyers accounted for approximately 11 percent of the Orlando-Sanford-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area’s 44,000 home sales during the study period of August 2017 through July 2018.”Orlando was Florida’s second most desired destination of foreign homebuyers in 2018 and captured 9.4 percent of the state’s market share (11 percent in 2017 and 12 percent in 2016). Only the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach area, which drew a whopping 53.7 percent of all Florida international transactions, topped Orlando. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area came in third with 9.0 percent. Those rankings are unchanged from both 2017 and 2016.
Buyer Originations
Orlando area international buyers in 2018 were mainly from Latin American and the Caribbean (47 percent), Europe (18 percent), and Asia (15 percent). From a nation-centric perspective, those from Brazil were involved in 20 percent of Orlando’s international transactions, while Canadian and Venezuelan nationals participated in 8 percent each. China, Columbia, and the United Kingdom each supplied 7 percent of Orlando’s international buyers in 2018.
Several countries made their first appearances on Orlando’s list of major foreign buyers in recent years: the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, France, and the Russian Federation.Popularity Rankings
Orlando was ranked as the 2 collective purchase location for international homebuyers from four of Florida’s six top foreign buyer markets in 2018 (Brazil, Columbia, China, and Venezuela). This year Orlando garnered the 3 spot from the United Kingdom, which in 2016 drew 29 percent of all of that country’s Florida real estate buyers and earned its 1 ranking.Financial Matters
International buyers contribute significantly to Orlando’s dollar volume statistic. “Foreign buyer purchases tend to involve higher priced #homes and accounted for 19 percent of Florida’s total residential dollar volume during the study period,” continues Nimkoff. “That same 19 percent equates to $1.9 billion when applied to ORRA members’ $10.1 billion worth of home sales during the study period.”
International buyers are also very apt to use cash because they might not have the required U.S. credit to obtain a mortgage from a U.S. source. In fact, about 67 percent of all Florida’s international transactions in the study period were all-cash (down from 72 percent last year), with Canadians (84 percent) and United Kingdom nationals (81 percent) most likely to have gone that route.
Orlando’s international buyers purchase properties for both vacation and residential rental purposes. Those from China, Columbia, and Venezuela in particular like to take advantage of Orlando’s steady stream of tourists and invest in a rental property while those from Canada and the United Kingdom were most likely to purchase a property for private vacation use.
With its mix of resort, urban, and suburban areas, Orlando is able to accommodate foreign buyers’ ever-changing location preferences. Thirty-seven percent of Florida’s international buyers selected to purchase in a central city/urban area, with another 37 percent selecting a suburban area. Only 15 percent purchased in a resort area during the 2018 study period, down from a high of 53 percent a decade ago. This drop is consistent with the declining share of Canadian and U.K. buyers, who have traditionally preferred such locations.
ORLANDO, FL. – #Construction activity at Orlando International Airport’s South #Terminal Complex paused briefly in recognition of the Independence Day holiday. Work will resume this Friday.
Progress is being made with crews working seven days-a-week to prepare the site for vertical construction in the fall. So far:
Nearly 75% of the 4,000 total piles are in the ground
Two million cubic yards of dirt have been moved
Construction workforce has grown to more than 500 on site daily
The terminal scheduled for completion in 2021 will provide 19 new gates for domestic and international flights and increase capacity to more than 50 million passengers annually at Florida’s busiest airport.
The terminal will add up to 19 new gates at the airport, which is expected to end 2018 with more than 47 million passengers traveling through it and help to prepare the region for its next growth in annual visitation. The terminal is expected to be completed by 2020.
As such, the airport has pulled a new permit from the state that gives a quick peek into what’s being worked on now. According to state records, the permit “to modify the conceptual permit to include the #expansion of the South Terminal Airside building, with associated additional apron and taxiway areas, as well as use the existing stormwater management system in place to provide full treatment and attenuation for the project known as the South Terminal Complex Phase 1X. Additionally, the final connection of the re-routing of Tradeport Ditch is proposed within the extents of the project.”
The VillageWalk at #Lake Nona Homeowners Association, Inc. (“VillageWalk”), a private, gated community in Lake Nona, announced today that it has filed a #lawsuit against KPMG LLP (“KPMG”), a professional services firm and independent member firm of KPMG International Cooperative, and JR Davis Construction Company, Inc. (“JR Davis”), an Orlando-based construction company, relating to the property and other damage that VillageWalk suffered as a result of the construction activity at the KPMG Learning and Innovation Center currently being built in Lake Nona. The lawsuit (2018-CA-12388-O) was filed in Orange County.
In this lawsuit, VillageWalk alleges that on the evening of September 30, 2017, Upper VillageWalk Circle, the privately-owned main street encircling 1,289 #homes in VillageWalk, collapsed without warning. In addition to damaging the street, the 10 to 12-foot collapse caused damage and destruction to portions of VillageWalk’s storm water outflow, portions of the electric lines which power street lights, one street light and pole, sections of sidewalks and walking paths, several mature Oaks and Palm trees, and portions of a main irrigation distribution line that controls irrigation for roughly half of all VillageWalk homes. The collapse also destroyed a section of a critical sewer pipe which resulted in the disruption of critical services to over 400 VillageWalk homes. One home was rendered temporarily uninhabitable.
The lawsuit further alleges that sections of Lake Nona Boulevard, a public right of way that runs parallel to Upper #Village Walk Circle, also collapsed simultaneous to the collapse in the VillageWalk community. At the time of the collapse, JR Davis was in the process of dewatering and excavating the main water retention pond structure at KPMG’s Learning and Innovation Center. The pond structure, located directly across the street from the collapsed road sections, was dewatered and excavated to a depth 21 feet beneath the Upper VillageWalk Circle road bed and 19 feet below the seasonal average water table on VillageWalk property. The lawsuit further claims that five (5) independent geotechnical engineering firms have all independently concluded that the dewatering and excavation of the KPMG water retention pond was the cause of the collapses on both Upper VillageWalk Circle and Lake Nona Boulevard.
“It is unfortunate that we are forced to resort to litigation,” said Tom Rose, president of VillageWalk, “but because our community’s streets are privately owned, we have an obligation to our owners to act. Without remuneration from those responsible, our residents would solely be responsible for absorbing over $500,000 in damages resulting from this event that we did not cause, and they should not have to bear that obligation. The permitting process in Florida is clear that KPMG, as the permit holder, and JR Davis, as the construction company, are responsible for damages caused by their dewatering and construction activities.”
VillageWalk has hired attorney Patrick Howell with Becker to represent the association’s interest in this matter. Mr. Howell is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Construction Law.
It will be a smooth landing from #Orlando International Airport to South Florida’s most popular attractions aboard #Brightline. Conveniently located in the South Terminal, ride south and dive into the turquoise waters, vibrant nightlife and cultural attractions of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
Discover the magic of Florida’s most popular theme parks when you ride carefree and car-free north from any of our South Florida stations.
Our Orlando station is nearly complete, but there is much left to do, including laying more than 170 miles of new track. Phase II construction to Orlando is expected to take approximately three years, and we plan to begin in 2018. Stay tuned for updates.
Company President Patrick Goddard said during a Dec. 13 update with the Central Florida Expressway Authority governing board that Brightline will give its contractor a 30-day notice to proceed on the $2.1 billion route on Feb. 1. The company will then proceed with construction after those 30 days, with a goal of completing the route in 30 to 36 months.
Completion of the project would be set for either fourth-quarter 2020 or first-quarter 2021.
During the meeting, Goddard mentioned that the company, which will be called Virgin Trains USA in 2019 thanks to its new partnership with Sir Richard Branson‘s #travel and hospitality company Virgin Group, is already in talks with Fort Pierce and Stuart about putting a potential stop in each city.
By Cindy Barth – Editor, Orlando Business Journal Dec 17, 2018, 11:13am EST
Home sales nationwide fell in November at the fastest rate in two years while the number of #homes listed #for sale increased at the fastest rate in three years,
The latest housing report from the Orlando Regional Realtor Association is a bit of good news/not so good news for the region as far as activity that took place in November.
First, the good news: The inventory of homes available for purchase in the Orlando area has experienced its first year-over-year increase since July 2015, with the overall inventory in November 1.7% higher than November 2017. In addition, the overall median price of Orlando homes sold in November is $233,100, 3.6% above the November 2017 median price of $224,995 and 1.8% above the October 2018 median price of $229,000.
“The tide has turned. Sellers are now competing for buyers, but they haven’t all realized it yet,” Broker #Agent with Keller Williams Realty
The bad news: Sales of single-family homes — 1,978 — in November decreased by 8.9% compared to November 2017, ORRA said.
“This slight rise in inventory can be attributed to a combination of both slowing sales and a bump in new listings, which increased by 4.5% compared to this same time last year,” said ORRA President Lou Nimkoff. “Factor in expected increases in interest rates that traditionally dampen sales, and we anticipate prospective homebuyers enjoying bolstered inventory levels throughout the upcoming year.”
Current inventory combined with the current pace of sales created a 3.3-month supply of homes in Orlando for November.
Port Canaveral’s plans for a new $150 million cruise terminal The money. are underway, and one major aspect of the project is going smoothly.
The Canaveral Port Authority on Dec. 5 approved a project financing plan that includes a mixture of bonds, bank loans, a line of credit, as well as funds from the terminal’s future tenant, Carnival Cruise Line. The terminal is part of a larger agreement with Carnival that includes the cruise liner operating for another 25 years at Port Canaveral.
The Central Florida sea hub’s Cruise Terminal 3 is set to be complete by June 2020, with #construction kicking off in first-quarter 2019. The new terminal, designed to accommodate the latest cruise ship sizes, will be roughly 190,000 square feet with a minimum 1,800-space parking garage and additional infrastructure and utility upgrades.
“We are going to borrow some and pay some down with the cruise line help. It’s a very good investment for the port and the surrounding area,” said Bob Harvey, a port commissioner, during the Dec. 5 meeting.
In addition, the port shared a brief update on when contracts regarding the project will be awarded.
A $75 million contract to oversee the terminal and roadwork construction will be awarded in January. According to the port’s contact page, the work includes the new Terminal 3 building, launch pad entrance hall, provisioning warehouse building with chiller yard, bag drop/crew building and roads/civil/utility work. The new terminal will prepare he world’s second-busiest cruise port for more future growth in passenger traffic.
Passenger counts at the port increased by 7.7 percent over last year to 4.56 million passengers — a gain of 327,489 passengers. Also, cargo tonnage coming through the port increased 6.9 percent to 6.4 million tons
Both are vital metrics to the port’s success that has major impacts on the Central Florida region’s ability to be both a tourist destination and a hub for bulk commodities that service several industries.
“These historic achievements are a fan formation that the course we’ve charted for our port is a good one,” said Port CEO John Murray, in a prepared statement. “We’re continuing to look ahead to strong organic growth, sound #business planning and a clear focus on creating a best-in-class experience for every customer.”
The following article New Canaveral Terminal was originally published to Maycumber and Associates
#Tavistock Development Co. LLC has beefed up plans for a portion of its 24,000-acre, cross-county Sunbridge development.
Tavistock may start #construction as early as February on the 2,700-acre Osceola County piece of its future development that crosses the line into Orange County, a spokeswoman told Orlando #Business Journal. The developer is seeking approvals from Osceola County on an updated development plan for that portion of a total of 19,560 acres in future development after winning approvals for a different plan in July 2017.
The current requests before the Osceola County development review committee are for:
The county’s development review committee will make a recommendation on the proposal at a Dec. 5 meeting. Approvals typically take months or years as plans can be stalled, delayed or changed for various reasons.
The Osceola County property is south of the Orange County line, east of Narcoossee Road, west of the Econlockhatchee Swamp Preservation Area and north of Nova Road. Homestead, Penn.-based GAI Consultants Inc. is the master planner.
Master infrastructure construction was expected to start sometime in 2018, Richard Levey, managing director of Levey Consulting, which was representing Tavistock Development on approvals for the development, previously told OBJ. Levey couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, construction on Sunbridge, one of the largest developments acreage-wise in Central #Florida, is expected to continue through 2055. Orange County’s 5,000-acre portion of Sunbridge is slated to include more than 7,300 homes, 490 hotel rooms, 6.3 million square feet of office and retail space, and 2.9 million square feet of industrial space.
The land is owned by entities related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to Osceola County documents.
For developments such as Sunbridge to find success, they require enormous amounts of capital and time to create a sense of place to attract residents, said local land expert Trevor Hall Jr., who isn’t involved in the project. Developers need to build medical, education, industrial and office buildings to serve future residents. “Whatever employment you can generate then feeds absorption of the housing projects.”
Sunbridge is expected to create big business and job opportunities similar to Tavistock’s #Lake Nona in southeast Orlando. The 17-square-mile Lake Nona boasts more than 11,000 residents, 5,000 employees in the 650-acre #Medical City biotech hub, and 14,000-plus students at its schools.