Florida

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.

Home prices increased nationally by 5.5% year over year from August 2017, while in the Bradenton-Sarasota-North Port, Fla., region they grew by 3.95%, CoreLogic said.