Plus, tougher condo loan standards
The latest rankings are in and there’s no surprise that Florida is taking the top spot for retirees to move, while the Sunshine State continues to battle it out with Texas for best business climate, plus the growing blacklist of condominium buildings on federal lenders’ list. It’s all in this week’s look at the Florida economy.
Retired in Florida: The latest SmartAsset study shows more retirees are moving to Florida than any other state. In 2021, more than 78,000 seniors moved to the Sunshine State – three times as many as Arizona, which ranks second on the list of popular states. The report credits our warm climate and no state income tax as factors. “Recent data suggests that seniors are moving out of expensive northeastern cities and into other parts of the country,” according to the report. Miami, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Tampa all placed among the top 20 cities gaining the most seniors. The remaining top five destinations are South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The biggest net loss states are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California, which lost 71,828, the most of any state.
Doing Business in Florida: Florida is the second best state for business once again, behind Texas, according to a 2023 Chief Executive Best and Worst States for Business report. Texas has taken the top spot all three years of the survey of top U.S. CEOs. Although Florida picked up some ground this year, it wasn’t enough to topple Texas. “The state’s low taxes and strong stance against pandemic-motivated business shutdowns boosted Florida’s popularity among business owners, helping kick off a stronger stream of migration to the state from relatively locked-down places including New York,” according to the report. The report said that Governor DeSantis’ “open for business” policies also helped Florida keep its second-best ranking because of the governor’s “popularity among business owners,” the report states. It also notes that the Governor’s policies specifically helped “kick off a stronger stream of migration to the state from relatively locked-down places including New York.”
Tougher Condo Loan Standards Continue: Federal lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a growing list of condominium complexes in Florida and across the country that they won’t back mortgages for, that buyers don’t discover until they apply for a loan and get turned-down. We first shared this practice in January of 2022 which was the result of the Surfside, Florida condo building collapse in June 2021 that killed 98 people. Fannie and Freddie instituted new lending standards and have been looking to eliminate condos in buildings that have deferred maintenance, structural safety issues, or inadequate building reserves. Florida’s new laws since the collapse have set tougher standards in those critical areas. Yet it’s hard to know that a building is on the list or why, as the list is confidential, available only to lenders and servicers. You can view Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide here and its list of approved condo projects that’s updated regularly.
Have a great week and call or email us if we can help you navigate Bill Watch or you have other questions. With the legislative session now over, we are resuming our bi-weekly publication of the LMA Newsletter with the next edition set for May 22.
See you on the trail,
Lisa
LMA Newsletter of 5-8-23
