Snowbird haven in Florida getting slammed by high home insurance rates, driving away buyers

financialpost.com:

Florida’s southwestern coast — long one of America’s fastest-growing regions — is losing some of its boom town swagger as a home-insurance crisis and other soaring costs make homes unaffordable.

Homeowners from Sarasota south to Naples, known for its eight-figure waterfront mansions, are having a tougher time selling their properties, and the buildup in inventory has caused home prices to fall at some of the fastest rates in the nation. Realtors point to rising insurance costs that were exacerbated by Hurricane Ian in 2022, prompting some homeowners to list their homes for sale and would-be buyers to walk.

“You’ve got people that went through the storm and just want to move on, and don’t really think the affordability is here anymore because of insurance,” said Marlissa Gervasoni, president of the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association. “From what I’m seeing, I believe they are looking for areas that might be less costly.”

Southwest Florida has been one of America’s fastest-growing regions for decades, historically luring retirees from the Midwest drawn to its warm winters, prevalence of golf courses and relatively affordable housing. In recent years, agents have said they’re seeing more newcomers from the Northeast and other regions, and the area’s rise in home prices has outpaced the nation overall.

However, several factors are converging and hitting the region’s normally hot real estate industry all at once, said Amir Neto, director of the Regional Economic Research Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University. Developers are bringing a wave of multi-family residential projects online just as a pandemic-fuelled surge of migration slows and high mortgage rates weigh on housing demand, Neto said.

Add to the mix an insurance