Weak dollar draws Fla. sales

Florida property prices are growing at a rate unseen since 2005, according to a Colordarcy analysis of Florida realtors’ data and real estate portals.

Investors from Canada to Asia are capitalizing on a weak dollar compared to their home countries’ currencies and a slate of new luxury condo projects, according to Colordarcy, a UK-based property investment consultancy. [more]

CNBC screenshot.

While the impending Hurricane Sandy may have kept the financial markets (and the New York City subways) closed today, insurers are gearing up for what’s likely to be one of their busiest weeks of their year. As we reported earlier, some $87 billion worth of property – or 284,000 U.S. homes — in the path of Hurricane Sandy are at major risk of flood and storm damage; in the New York metro area more than 119,000 homes are at severe risk.

While federal flood insurance will cover the damage in some instances, national insurers will have to shoulder some of the burden, which is expected to exceed the $4.3 billion in losses from last year’s Hurricane Irene. Janney Montgomery analyst Larry Greenberg told the Wall Street Journal losses could total up to $6 billion, though other news outlets are estimating up to $10 billion. See the video after the jump. [more]

Palm Beach saw a 2.17 percent increase in taxable property values in 2011, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. The increase followed three straight years of reductions in property values, according to data from Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits. The increase was higher than an earlier prediction by Nikolits in April that property values would rise 1 percent. Palm Beach has seen its residential market stabilize of late, with strong demand in its low and mid-range properties. [Palm Beach Daily News]

Property values in the town of Palm Beach will rise slightly in 2012, according to data from Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits. “At this point, we can tell they are in the positive this year, by less than 1 percent,” Nikolits said. “Two years ago, we were at or near the bottom of the market.” The nearly 1 percent increase comes after three straight years of reductions in property values, with a 12.4 percent decrease in 2010. “We’re just bumping along the bottom here,” he said. “If you look at the overall county, some areas are up a little and some are down.” [Palm Beach Daily News]

Palm Beach County property values began to level off last year after a more than three-year plunge, according to appraiser Gary Nikolits. Preliminary estimates now show the county losing between 1.5 and 2 percent in property tax revenues this year, down from the 5 percent loss Nikolits had predicted in January. That would mean an expected budget shortfall of $30 million, down from $50 million, for the next fiscal year. The numbers won’t be finalized until July 1, but whatever loss Palm Beach County sees will come in addition to the 10 percent declines in property tax revenues it saw it the previous two years. [more]

Real estate mogul Sam Zell said he expects little construction activity in commercial real estate nationwide over the next one to three years, except for apartment houses, according to Reuters. “We’re now approaching three and a half years of no development, and I see little prospect for new supply over the next 12 to 36 months except multi-family,” he said. With new supply, the value of existing office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, warehouses and distribution centers should increase and vacancies should fall, Zell said, which would cause lenders to stop extending maturities on loans on underwater properties and fuel property sales. Zell also predicted that real estate would do well over the next 24 months. “When the buildings fill, then pretend and extend is over,” he added. [Reuters]

Palm Beach County saw its property values drop 12 percent over the course of 2009, with some cities, like Lake Worth, South Palm Beach and Palm Springs, seeing declines upward of 20 percent, according to appraiser Gary Nikolits. His report shows that none of Palm Beach County’s 38 municipalities saw an uptick in their property values by the end of 2009. This has some government officials concerned about budget cuts, with tax revenues expected to decline based on the county-wide property value drop.

A group of Destin beachfront homeowners who claim that anti-erosion projects have cut the value of their properties by millions of dollars are bringing their case before the Florida Supreme Court. Six years ago, the residents said that a project that added a 75-foot sand barrier slashed home values there by reducing access to the water. The state Department of Environmental Protection claims that sand reduces erosion and creates more stability, protecting property owners who still have access to the water. A ruling in favor of the property owners could affect projects all along Florida’s 825 miles of coastline. [Property Wire]

Florida has had the third-highest percentage decline in property values nationwide, according to census data from the American Community Survey released yesterday. Median values fell 8.6 percent last year to $218,700, from $239,200 in 2007. At the same time, the state was one of seven to see an increase in poverty rates, with 13.2 percent of Florida’s population living below the poverty line in 2008, up from 12.1 percent in 2007. The estimated number of Florida food stamp recipients also increased to 507,031, or 7.2 percent of the state’s population, from 412,606 or 5.8 percent over the same time period.TRD [more]

The housing recession has passed its lowest point, many argue, but Florida and other southern states are in worse shape than many areas of the country. Property values have dropped 38 percent and $4 trillion in equity has been wiped out, but home resales, new home sales and construction are all rising from the bottom. Economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says the freefall is over, but there are still regional market variations. The best one can say of Florida is that the rate of decline in sales and property values is starting to slow, says Steve Cumbie, executive director of the Center for Real Estate Development at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. [more]