Things To Do In SW Florida

Home prices hit a record high in the Orlando area this summer, but experts say 2024 has brought some stability to the housing market, with more properties for sale and more buyers securing a home.

Still, housing costs have increased more than wages in Central Florida, so many would-be buyers still struggle to find properties they can afford.

The median monthly home price in Central Florida was $395,000 in June, according to Orlando Regional Realtor Association, the highest price on record. It fell slightly to $390,000 in July, but five years ago, in June 2019, the median monthly home price was $250,000.

A small drop in mortgage rates last year and an increased number of homes for sale has made the market busier.

The number of homes for sale in the Orlando area has increased seven months in row, hitting 11,158 properties in July, up about 3,000 from five years ago and the highest number since November 2015, according to the realtor association.

“What we’re seeing is, as of late last year around November and December when the interest rates came down just a little bit, it really triggered the market and got buyers back out there,” said Rose Kemp, the association’s president. “The other awesome trend is that we started seeing more inventory,” she said. “Our inventory has been rising since last year around November and that’s actually a really good indication of a much more healthy market.” read more

If Osceola County and St. Cloud adopt their proposed sky-high mobility fees this month they will almost certainly face a legal challenge.

The city and county have tweaked the proposed mobility fees they would impose on new development to fund transportation initiatives, in the face of sharp opposition from the business community. But the new rates would still more than double and some are even higher than what was initially presented in June, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

Even more confusing to many, the ordinance creates a new category for affordable housing that charges $1,202 more per unit than the standard fee for market-rate apartments. Critics say that would discourage a type of development governments should be trying to encourage.

“That doesn’t even make sense. It’s hysterical,” said Lee Steinhauer, government liaison for the Greater Orlando Builders Association (GOBA).

Advocates of the mobility fees in Osceola County and St. Cloud say they are critical to pay for the traffic impacts of new developments, in the form of new and improved roads and transit options. But the proposed fees would be the highest in the state. Many say it would discourage new building, and the costs would be passed onto residents and businesses that can’t afford them. read more

By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline.org

No state illustrates this year’s flurry of ballot measures to cut property taxes better than Colorado. There, the results of two likely voter questions could reduce funding for schools, roads, emergency responders and other local government services.

Colorado’s ballot measures are just two of nearly a dozen upcoming questions dealing with property taxes in states across the country, including in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. While varying in scope, the measures all aim to reduce taxes for some or all property owners.

One Colorado question is already certified for the ballot, and another appears to have many more signatures than necessary to qualify. (A third Colorado property tax ballot question, which is less controversial than the others and has qualified for the ballot, would expand the amount of tax exclusion that can be claimed by disabled veterans.)

“Property taxes are a deeply unpopular, but a fairly efficient, tax,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation, a conservative tax analysis group that advocates for lower, more broadly based taxes. “So they have always pitted economists and policy wonks against ordinary homeowners who get very frustrated with their property taxes.” read more

By Swati Pandey, Randy Thanthong-Knight and Alice Kantor, Bloomberg News

International students — long the golden goose for universities and colleges in advanced economies — face an increasingly uncertain future as governments seek easy targets to rein in surging immigration.

In the United Kingdom, one of the world’s biggest destinations for foreign students, the Labour Party while in opposition vowed to retain a ban on international students bringing dependents to Britain — the largest source of migration since 2019. In the Netherlands, a far-right coalition has proposed restricting foreign students’ access to Dutch universities.

In Canada, where one in 40 people is an international student, a government clampdown is forcing “puppy mill” colleges to shut down programs. And in Australia, where that ratio is even greater at one in 33, the government has proposed caps on foreign enrollments in universities and is targeting “dodgy providers.”

The impact is already being felt — aggregate visa data for the first quarter of 2024 showed volumes to the UK, Canada and Australia down between 20% and 30% from a year earlier, according to Sydney-listed student placement services and testing company IDP Education Ltd., which operates in all three markets. read more