Home prices shrink South Florida school populations
Real estate developers are baffled by stagnant or shrinking student populations in South Florida’s public school systems. Palm Beach County saw a 1.9 percent decline in enrollments last school year from the year before. Broward County also reported a population drop of 3.1 percent during the 2005-2006 school year. School officials say the still-hot housing market is to blame, as it prices younger families out of South Florida, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Median existing-home prices have increased by 90 percent since 2001 to $248,400, and the stock of affordable family homes is shrinking. The slowdown is temporary, Florida officials say. They say the 34 percent decline in the past year in existing single-family home sales will bring relief to families previously priced out.
Hurricane memories stymie hotels
Hotels in South Florida saw few guests in September as the hurricane season opened. Many investors say hotel guests remembered hurricanes from last year and were staying away this season.
Several hotels showed decreased bookings and lower occupancy than last year, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Poor weather put September hotel occupancy in Broward County last year at 62.7 percent compared to the annual average of 74.1 percent in 2005. In Palm Beach County, September occupancy was 62.9 percent compared to the annual average in 2005, 76 percent.
But memories, especially tourists’ memories, can be short, so hoteliers say the absence of hurricanes this September could boost occupancy next year.
Largest industrial deal spawns commercial project
In the year’s largest single industrial deal by size in South Florida, 27 acres of prime undeveloped land in Miami were acquired several weeks ago by commercial developer Higgins Development Partners and private equity investors Walton Street Capital.
In addition to the undeveloped land located in Miami’s Airport North submarket, the deal included a 1-million-square-foot distribution warehouse adjacent to the property. The joint partnership has announced the property will be branded as Centergate at Gratigny. It plans to build two warehouse and office buildings of approximately 600,000 square feet total.
Brokers involved in the transaction said Centergate will attract interest for industrial space in the region.
Hurricane-proof your home and save, new rules say
South Florida homeowners and brokers are breathing a sigh of relief now that windstorm insurance premiums offer deep discounts for hurricane protection.
The Miami Herald reported that state insurance regulators are offering bigger discounts to insurers who strengthen their homes against hurricanes. Lawmakers have been working to solve the homeowner insurance crisis, which is hurting the region’s real estate market.
Officials have major insurers State Farm Florida and Allstate Floridian in agreement for the discount standardization. Homeowners were concerned about the broad range of discounts insurers would offer — sometimes up to 46 percent, for instance, for storm protection shutters.
St. Joseph statue sales spell trouble for South Florida
There’s a heavenly way to gauge the South Florida housing market, and it’s scaring the devil out of brokers.
Burying a statue of St. Joseph, the patron saint of real estate, on a property is a growing tradition among brokers selling in the cooling market. The practice requires the statue to be buried near the sale sign on the property, then dug up after the property sells.
Phil Cates, owner of stjoseph.com, said Florida is his biggest market for the statues. Brokers say the demand for St. Joseph statues is related to the lull in the housing market. In South Florida, home sales fell 34 percent and condo sales fell 41 percent in August in comparison to the previous year, reported the Florida Association of Realtors.
Mixed-use projects aim to alter shopping habits
Property owners in South Florida are increasingly transforming 30- and 40-acre shopping centers into mixed-use projects, a trend that analysts say could change the way residents shop, work and live.
Instead of sprawling shopping centers with massive parking lots, developers are now integrating apartments and offices into those spaces as well. They are also building more vertical retail.
The trend, according to the Miami Herald, is a result of high land prices and limited land supply. Mixed-use makeovers under way include Young Circle in Hollywood, Biscayne Plaza in Miami, Glades Plaza in Boca Raton, the Fountains Shoppes of Distinction in Plantation, and a strip center at the intersection of Interstate 595 and University Drive in Plantation.