Southwest Florida Real Estate News and Market Insight
Market data, mortgage rate movement, housing policy, and property news from across the country and here at home in Collier and Lee counties. Anything that affects what a home in Naples, Bonita Springs, or Estero is worth, and what it costs to own one, is worth understanding before it shows up in your closing statement or your tax bill.
How midsize lenders are surviving the mortgage squeeze

Mortgage veteran Glenn Stearns is taking a different approach with his latest venture. Kind Lending, a national wholesale mortgage lender and his second brainchild, is built on lean operations and a focus on efficiency — a contrast with his first company, Stearns Lending, which filed for Chapter 11
Read MoreHUD is light on reverse mortgage detail in justifications for budget request

Following the release of the president’s fiscal year 2026 “skinny” budget request — and a look at the White House’s performance expectations for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program — the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released its congressional justificatio
Read MoreHere’s the real picture of South Florida’s housing market

Residential broker Erin Sykes recently reduced the price on a condo she listed at the Regency of Palm Beach, a 60-year-old oceanfront building. The 1,358-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo at 2760 South Ocean Boulevard hit the market in 2023 for $849,000. Now, it’s asking $649,000, after a
Read MoreArgentine developers propose 25-story Goulds tower –– area’s tallest –– under Live Local Act

An Argentine real estate firm wants to develop a 25-story Live Local Act multifamily tower in Goulds, marking the tallest proposed building in the south Miami-Dade County neighborhood that is home to low-rise housing and shopping plazas. RCC Developers proposes the 300-unit project with 5,900 squa
Read MoreLennar advances plan to build 50 townhouses in Wilton Manors

Lennar expects to break ground by year-end on 50 townhouses in Wilton Manors and sell them at prices starting above $800,000. The Wilton Manors City Commission unanimously voted Tuesday to approve the development on 5 acres at 1550 Northeast 26th Street, four blocks west of U.S. 1. Before the city a
Read MoreJudge blocks CFPB bid to undo Townstone redlining settlement

A federal judge on Thursday blocked an attempt by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reverse a $105,000 settlement with Townstone Financial, a Chicago-based mortgage broker accused of discouraging Black applicants.U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama ruled that allowing the CFPB t
Read MoreAir India confirms plane crash killed at least 241 people, 1 passenger survives

The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known and could take months to determine.
Read MoreAir India crash: What to know about the first fatal Boeing Dreamliner tragedy

An Air India jet flying from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff into a fireball with 242 people aboard.
Read MoreAmazon expands planned Wynwood office to 76K sf

Amazon expanded its planned office in Miami’s Wynwood, The Real Deal has learned, re-invigorating a push to turn the neighborhood into a tech mecca. Jeff Bezos’ Seattle-based e-commerce giant now plans a 75,500-square-foot office at the recently completed 12-story office building at 95 Northwest 29
Read MoreEx-Hearst Magazines boss Cathie Black buys, sells Palm Beach homes in deals totaling $30M

In a case of island home-hopping, media mogul Cathie Black and her husband, Thomas Harvey, sold their Palm Beach house for $18 million in an off-market deal. The sale closed just days after they bought another home on the island for $12 million. Records show Black and Harvey sold the 3,600-square-f
Read MoreJudge sets trial timeline for Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge

An order signed by a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has established a forward timeline for the ongoing lawsuit between major reverse mortgage industry lenders Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Longbridge Financial. A trial is scheduled to begin in Nove
Read MoreLogan Finance launches new product suite for non-QM borrowers

Nonqualified mortgage (non-QM) lender Logan Finance Corp. has launched a new set of loan products designed to serve borrowers who fall outside traditional lending requirements.The “Open Road” product series includes seven mortgage offerings tailored to self-employed individuals, real estate investor
Read MoreSeritage sells shuttered Sears in Boca Raton to Simon for $23M

Simon Property Group finalized its takeover of a shuttered Sears store at Town Center at Boca Raton in Palm Beach County. An affiliate of Indianapolis-based Simon, led by David Simon, paid $23 million to an affiliate of New York-based Seritage Growth Properties for the 180,029-square-foot big box st
Read MoreAging in place increasingly embraced by independent senior living companies

Senior living organizations are often seen by the public as opposing ideas related to aging in place, but one senior living executive says that the industry’s future may lie in facilitating this increasingly common goal.This is according to an interview with Tod Petty, chief marketing officer at Fyn
Read MoreCentury 21 expands yet again — this time in Northern California

Century 21 Real Estate has announced a new affiliation with Kobetz Realty Inc., a full-service brokerage based in Ukiah, California.The move expands Century 21‘s presence in Mendocino County and the surrounding region.Founded in 2020 by broker/owner Benjamin Kobetz, the firm will now operate as Cent
Read MoreFederal Reserve watchdog investigates efforts to dismantle CFPB

As Trump administration officials press ahead with their efforts to dismantle and defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Reserve Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is reportedly opening an investigation into moves to fire the vast majority of CFPB and attempted cancel
Read MoreOakland A’s pitcher buys Pinecrest mansion

Major League Baseball pitcher Luis Severino paid $10.7 million for a home under construction in Pinecrest. Severino, who plays for the Oakland Athletics, and his wife Rosmaly Frechel, CEO of the Luis Severino Foundation, bought the 1-acre property at 10801 Southwest 67th Avenue, records show. A com
Read MoreEliseAI to integrate conversational AI into Zillow Rentals listings

EliseAI is finalizing a partnership with Zillow Rentals to embed its conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology directly into multifamily rental listings on the Zillow platform.The integration is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2025.Branded as AI Assist, Powered by EliseAI, th
Read MorePartner Real Estate soars to new heights among mega teams

Partner Real Estate is on the rise — and making its presence felt. The Los Angeles-based independent brokerage achieved its best-ever placement in the 2025 RealTrends rankings, coming in at No. 13 among mega teams by closed sales volume.For Rudy Kusuma, CEO of the team, the distinction represents mo
Read MoreNevada senator accelerates criticism of Republican federal lands proposal

As Republican lawmakers continue to press ahead with a proposal to sell wide swaths of federal land, one official in a state that would be impacted is ramping up her opposition to plans from both the Trump administration and her congressional colleagues.Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Neva
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