A weekly alert that contains in-depth news, information, insight and analysis on the most critical real estate related issues and topics facing Florida.
Amendment 3 could bring rush of Florida homebuyers, impact property values
Amendment 3 aims to change the property tax structure in Florida by saving money for homeowners and cutting revenue for cities and counties. It could also have an impact on the Florida real estate market. A 2025 study by Realtor.com suggests home values in Florida could rise 7% to 9% if the referendum passes, and some real estate professionals say there will likely be an impact. [Source: WPTV]
Why Publix is buying up real estate around Florida
Publix is buying shopping plazas where the company’s supermarkets are located, moving from tenant to landlord and expanding from food to real estate. The Lakeland-based grocery giant appears to be stepping up that strategy in Miami-Dade County. In October alone, Publix has purchased two shopping centers: one near Miami International Airport and another in Southwest Miami-Dade, spending a total of $107 million. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Florida housing market holds steady in September
Florida’s housing market remained relatively stable in September, with home prices holding steady and luxury sales continuing to perform well, even as higher mortgage rates contributed to a second straight month of year-over-year sales declines. Closed sales of single-family homes fell 3.5% from September 2025, while condo and townhouse sales were virtually unchanged, with just eight fewer closings statewide, according to Florida Realtors® Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. [Source: Florida Realtors]
Insurance market rebounds, but premium costs fuel governor’s race
The property insurance market is in a better spot than it was just a few years ago, but elevated prices have put insurance premiums at the center of Florida’s governor’s race. Nearly four years after Florida legislators passed reforms, hundreds of thousands of homeowners are off the state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which had grown to as many as 1.2 million policies, and private insurers have returned to absorb those policies. But the candidates running to be Florida’s next governor are proposing plans to lower private insurance costs for residents. [Source: Orlando Business Journal]
Understanding how the Pandemic Housing Boom and subsequent cyclical cooling period have played out across Florida
To put the past six years into context, ResiClub broke down how the Pandemic Housing Boom (March 2020 to mid-2022) and the subsequent post-boom cyclical cooling period have impacted home prices across 35 major Florida counties through September 2026. Many of the housing figures that get published are topline numbers: a statewide year-over-year change, or a metro-wide percent decline from peak. We share those frequently too. Those cuts are useful, but on their own they can paint an incomplete picture. [Source: ResiClub Analytics]
STAT OF THE WEEK
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The new owner of the Hilton Bayfront in downtown St. Petersburg wants to demolish the 56-year-old hotel and build two identical 44-story condominium towers in its place. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
› Miami makes the snowbird list, but inland Florida takes the top spots [Islander News]
“Spread your tiny wings and fly away And take the snow back with you …” Anne Murray once sang about that magical, tiny migrating bird. In Florida, human “snowbirds” will soon be flocking to the Sunshine State, and most of them won’t be heading to Miami. According to a recent StorageCafe analyses of more than 470 warm-weather U.S. cities, 63 of the country’s top 100 destinations are in Florida. The highest-ranked destinations this year are inland, not beachfront.
› NEFAR summit focuses on future of Downtown Jacksonville [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Downtown Jacksonville is on the verge of a transformation that will leave some people wondering why they didn’t invest in the real estate market there, a speaker said Oct. 16 at the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors’ Economic Development Summit. But a statewide vote on a property-tax related constitutional amendment could hurt the city’s ability to invest in Downtown, said a member of Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration who also spoke during the event.
› New owner wants to raze Merrywood, but is open to saving part of Winter Park home [Orlando Sentinel]
Winter Park’s iconic Merrywood house now seems headed for demolition, but over the course of a three-hour city commission meeting Wednesday, a slim hope emerged: that a portion of it could become a facade for the new owner’s guest house. Commissioners had been scheduled to take the final vote on a proposal to split the 3.67-acre lot at 1020 Palmer Avenue, which had been considered one of the city’s few areas of leverage to save the home from the wrecking ball. Instead, they delayed a decision until the Nov. 11 meeting.
› Landmark Florida Keys waterfront bar selling for $4.9M — conch fritter recipe included [Tampa Bay Times]
Alabama Jack’s — the open-air, bustling rustic shack on Card Sound Road in Key Largo that has welcomed boaters, bikers and tourists for generations — is back on the market for $4.9 million. The bar and restaurant is a signature Florida Keys stop, the kind of place Jimmy Buffett would sing about. Buffett stopped by Alabama Jack’s in the late 1970s, among other celebrity visitors through the years including singer Billy Joel and TV host Kathie Lee Gifford, who went often when she owned property in the ultra-exclusive Coral Reef Club just down the road.