FORT LAUDERDALE — Sergio Blandón, a retired import and export agent, spent three years living in Florida and decided that was enough.“I want to live without thinking about mortgages and high home insurance,” said Blandón, 71, who returned to his homeland in Managua, Nicaragua.There was a time when an occasional disgruntled resident like Blandón might not matter to Florida’s booming $180 billion home industry. But that may be changing. After six years of fierce hurricanes and searing summer temperatures, brokers, mortgage bankers and Florida’s entire residential real estate industry have expressed concern that weather patterns influenced by climate change may have wilted the state’s reputation as an idyllic place to live and work.As of November 2024, the industry reported $139.3 billion in monthly single-family home sales. The sale of townhouses and condos accounted for another $41 billion, according to the association.But RedFin has spotted some worrisome trends in home sales statistics.According to the Seattle-based brokerage and mortgage originator, the state has seen a decrease in the purchase of homes by investors. The trend, which may be a leading indicator of overall home sales, has affected major cities like Fort Lauderdale, which saw a 23.8% decline in purchases. Miami followed with a 19.4% decline.A damaged storage unit in a Cedar Key neighborhood on Whiddon Avenue near Cedar Key High School is missing walls and doors. (Scarlling Manzanarez/WUFT News)
According to RedFin, Florida also saw a 10.2% drop in homebuying from October 2023 to October 2024. At the same time, the average number of days a home is listed on the market increased by more than a third to 67 days, up from 44 days in October 2023. And according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the number of unsold Florida homes began rising in the summer of 2022 and topped out at 153,052 in December 2024.Blandón said he has decided to pursue real estate investments elsewhere.After arriving in Florida in 1993, he found job prospects lacking and three years later he decided to move to Cleveland where he bought two properties. In 1996, he bought the first property for $115,000 in Brook Park, Ohio, and the second for $93,000 in Parma. He said both properties increased in value by 50%.“Ohio’s real estate market is slow compared to Florida’s because people look for houses in order to stay there for a lifetime,” said Blandón on a recent family visit to Florida.Kitchen sinks, a wheelbarrow and other construction materials outside a damaged storage unit in a neighborhood on Whiddon Avenue near Cedar Key High School in Cedar Key. (Scarlling Manzanarez/WUFT News)
Once he retired, he sold both houses in Ohio.Although one of his sons lives in South Florida, he declined to buy a property because he never felt attracted to the state’s fast-paced lifestyle and the high cost of living, including rental rates and insurance.He also said that he feels safer living outside
