The 234 Apartment

Five Broward County cities rank as the priciest rental markets in Florida — and, no, Fort Lauderdale doesn ’t top the list. Miramar leads with a July average rent of $1,800 a month, up 3.2 percent from a year ago, according to RENTCafé, a nationwide apartment search website . Adrian Rosenberg, a representative for the website, noted that Miramar rents have increased steadily in recent years and that more than half of Miramar’s apartment stock is made up of high-end buildings, which includes 1,500 new units delivered since 2013. Despite the recent building boom of luxury apartments in Fort Lauderdale , Broward’s county seat comes in only at No. 2 at $1,751 a month. Davie is third at $1,739. Coral Springs and Pembroke Pines are tied at No. 4 at $1,653 a month. In another upset, Miami came in at only No. 6 ($1,587) because lower- priced neighborhoods drove down the average rent, Rosenberg said. West Palm Beach was No. 7 at $1,344. No other Palm Beach County community made the top 1...

Fewer of these, please. iStock/Thinkstock It's possible to get rich if your business only caters to rich people. But it's hard to have a massive and really successful industry in the United States today if you only cater to rich people. There are only so many people in the country with good credit and lots of cash sitting around. And this week, we got evidence that one of America’s largest industries may be running into trouble because its products appeal only to the upper crust. I’m not talking about jewelry or apparel. I’m talking about housing. On Tuesday, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers reported a blow-out quarter, noting that contracts and sales were up 20 percent from the year before, and said it might sell more than 2,500 homes in the upcoming quarter. Advertisement On Wednesday, the Census Bureau announced that new home sales in July were down 9.4 percent from June, and down 8.9 percent from July 2016. On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported t...

WASHINGTON — Homebuilders pulled back sharply on construction of apartment complexes in July, causing housing starts to tumble to a three-month low. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that housing starts fell 4 .8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million. Groundbreakings for multi- family buildings such as apartments slumped 17.1 percent, while single- family house construction slipped 0 .5 percent. Home construction has increased 2.4 percent year-to-date, but the gains have done little to offset the dwindling number of homes listed for sale. The shortage of properties for sale has pushed prices up at a faster pace than income growth, making home ownership less affordable for many would-be buyers. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities , said that because of the lack of homes on the market "builders are attempting to meet that need but are hamstrung to a degree by shortages of skilled workers" and land restrictions...

Along Florida's Turnpike in South Miami -Dade, where potato farms and fields of row crops stretched all the way to the visible horizon at the time when Hurricane Andrew struck , it’s virtually all rows of close-packed houses and townhomes today. Now the unavoidable noise walls are going up to forever block vistas once among the most beguiling in South Florida. Along South Dixie Highway , where scraggly lots, small farm fields and vegetable- and fruit-packing houses once mixed it up with used-car lots and budget motels, the landscape is a cornucopia of strip malls, Publix and Wal-Mart stores and fast- food chain restaurants . And everywhere there is traffic, backed up one way in the morning, when three-quarters of all employed adults in South Miami - Dade head north to downtown Miami , Coral Gables or even Doral to work, and the other way when they drive back home in the evening. Lightning struck as thunderstorms swept through the ruins of Homestead in the days after Hurricane...

Chesterfield County again led the region for single- family home sales last year, but faces challenges when it comes to housing affordability.  That's according to Laura Lafayette, chief executive officer of the Richmond Association of Realtors, during her presentation to the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors this week. In the county, 5,460 single- family homes sold in 2016, a 13.5 percent increase from 2015 when Chesterfield again led the region. Sales in Chesterfield outpaced Henrico County , the second hottest housing market in the region last year, by 1,805 homes. The average sales price in Chesterfield was $266,484. Lafayette said she expected the number to be the same, if not slightly higher, by the end of 2017. "This is obviously a sellers market. If you want to purchase a house, you’ve got to bring a full-price offer," Lafayette said. While Chesterfield led the region for single- family home sales , Henrico came in first for condo and town home sales ...

caption Sellers rejoice. source Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Homebuyer demand is surging in many markets across the US, sending home prices skyward . Even though the number of home sales are slightly down this summer, the national median home price rose 6 .5% year-over-year to an all-time high of $263,800 in June, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). “The demand for buying a home is as strong as it has been since before the Great Recession,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun . “Listings in the affordable price range continue to be scooped up rapidly,” he said, “but the severe housing shortages inflicting many markets are keeping a large segment of would-be buyers on the sidelines.” In a new report, GOBankingRates examined home prices for the 100 most populous markets using Zillow data, comparing prices in each market for June 2016 and June 2017. Overall, 19 cities saw a median home price increase of more than 14% in the last year, and an average incr...

The 716-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at 1121 Arlington Blvd., Unit #631, in Arlington, Va., is listing for $195,000. (Redfin) When you want to own a house near a Metro station and have a tight budget, a condo can be a good solution as long as you are careful to include the condo fee in your housing payment calculation . While even condos in the District can be pricey, crossing the Potomac into Arlington can sometimes get you more for your money, but you’ll have to shop carefully. The median sales price in Arlington County was $625,000 in June, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Yet some condos are available to buyers looking for affordability. For example, the condo at River Place at 1121 Arlington Blvd., Unit #631, is priced at $195,000. The monthly condo fee is $450 per month, and annual taxes are $2,123 for the one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit, which has 716 square feet. The condo fee includes all utilities. [Studio condo in Arlington ...