Florida Boom Metros See Biggest Drop in Home Prices Since 2011
www.bnnbloomberg.ca

... An area along Florida's west coast including affluent Sarasota is seeing the worst home price declines since the aftermath of the Great Recession, as the region recovers from hurricanes and faces rising inventory.

While home prices continue to rise across most of the country, metro areas in once-hot Florida and the Southeast dominate the short list of places where they are actually falling from a year ago in data from 226 metro areas compiled by the National Association of Realtors.

No region is seeing greater declines than Southwest Florida, a fast-growing area historically popular with Midwestern retirees. The Punta Gorda metro area had the biggest quarterly decline since 2011, with the median price falling 6.5% over the year to $350,000 in the third quarter, NAR data show. Fifty miles north, prices in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area fell 5.8% over the year to $485,000, also the biggest decline since 2011.

And in the nearby Cape Coral-Fort Myers area, prices fell 3.7%, although it saw a bigger drop earlier this year.

Prices in the Southeast are under pressure from "more inventory, higher insurance costs, and more homebuilding in recent years," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in an email Thursday.

Tony Barrett, president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, chalked up the recent weakness in part to the effects of recent hurricanes, which delayed some sales and hurt buyers' confidence. Meantime, the supply of homes has been rising, and fewer investors appear to be buying, he said in a September market report. Finally, the region has been coping with a surge in home insurance costs that has scared off some buyers. ...

10 stabbed in Seattle over two days in random attacks that may be connected
www.nbcnews.com

... A suspect was arrested shortly after an attack Friday in which five people were stabbed. Police are investigating whether he is connected to five other stabbings since Thursday. ...