Naples Real Estate News - 06/29/07

June 30, 2007 Posted in Real Estate News 

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE - Five homeowners insurance companies want to raise rates just weeks after the state ordered providers to lower premiums. The state has been asked to approve requests from Auto Owners (average of 41.9 percent), Cincinnati Insurance (37.5 percent), Florida Farm (30.3 percent), Hartford, (29.5 percent) and Metropolitan Property and Casualty (14.9 percent).

Personnally I don’t know of anyone that is using any of the above mentioned insurance companies to insure their Bonita Springs real estate holdings.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUNDS - Florida has affordable housing trust funds, but a bill introduced yesterday in the U.S. Congress would take it to the next level – creating a national affordable housing trust fund.

Using a national affordable housing trust fund may have a negative impact on the state’s affordable housing issues, especially in the Naples real estate market, due to the high cost of housing here, if national medians are used to determine housing cost and income guidelines.

CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE - It’s big and getting bigger: Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer, surpassed 1.3 million policies in May. It’s taking on new policies at an even faster pace this month with the biggest growth coming from outside Florida’s riskiest coastal areas.

Riskiest coastal areas does include the Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero Florida real estate markets.

MORTGAGE RATES - Rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.67 percent this week, compared with 6.69 percent last week, in the second decline after five weeks of increases, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly nationwide survey.

INTEREST RATES - Feeling more optimistic about economic growth and lower inflation, the Federal Reserve on Thursday left the key federal funds interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent, where it has stayed for the past year. Most analysts think the Fed will remain on hold for the rest of this year and well into 2008, giving a bit of stability to ARMs.

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