Florida

Sales of single family-homes in the Tampa Bay area plunged in December as prices again rose.

Home sales plunged in the Orlando, Fla., area in December as 2018 finished with fewer sales than the year before, and real estate agents warned that 2019 could be slower as well.

The tricky part: raising awareness without appearing to take advantage of borrowers at a time when agencies like the SBA are out of commission.

The strong economic headwinds from last fall facilitated a declining loan delinquency rate across the country, though areas hit by natural disasters had increased defaults, according to CoreLogic.

Tampa Bay's housing market gained $22 billion in value last year but it's still worth less than it was at the peak of housing bubble in 2005-06.

During the Palm Beach County, Fla., real estate recovery, home prices moved in one direction — up, up and up some more.

Home and apartment rents in Metro Orlando are rising faster than any other major city in the country, according to a report by Zillow.

The city of St. Augustine, Fla., is expected to get an abundance of new apartments and houses, and some of them are taking shape now.

Orlando's red-hot real estate market may be cooling off.

Five Florida Keys men ripped off the federal government and received thousands of dollars in recovery money after Hurricane Irma struck last year, the Monroe County State Attorney's Office said.

Merchants has agreed to buy NattyMac, a company it has been in business with since 2014.

There was an 8% year-over-year increase in mortgage loan application defect risk in California during October and that should rise further because of the wildfires that devastated the state, First American said.

Orlando real estate broker Geo Geovanni, 49, was found guilty in federal court of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and three counts of bank fraud, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

Sorry, homebuyers, Tampa Bay's real estate market still looks strong for sellers.

There was a 1.3% uptick in mortgage application defects in September from the previous month, with states affected by Hurricane Florence showing preliminary spikes in activity following the storm, according to First American.

City National Bank said the foundation will buy houses and hold onto them until the buyer lines up financing.

Bucking a national trend, sales of single-family homes soared by double digits in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Hernando counties in September.

New-home construction fell in September on a decline in the South that may reflect disruptions from Hurricane Florence, government figures showed Wednesday.

September's surprising large year-over-year drop in home sales is a sign that the housing market continues moving toward balance between buyers and sellers, a Remax report said.

Natural disasters are now the leading driver of lenders' foreclosure risk, with last year's hurricanes causing a rise in third-quarter filings in affected markets, according to Attom Data Solutions.