CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — On Thursday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a point, which could help home buyers in Charlotte County while the real estate market recovers from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on how rate cuts will impact a recovering real estate market in Charlotte County:
“Today the FOMC took another step in reducing the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy by a quarter percentage point,” said Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States.
This is the second time in a row the Fed has cut interest rates and the benchmark rate now sits at 4.5%.
“For our typical middle American buyers who are buying their primary home here or considering some of the new construction developments, a quarter percent is a big deal to their pocketbook,” said Carla Nix, who owns the Nix Team at Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty with her husband Danny. “And it helps offset some of that inflation they have been battling and also puts them back in the buying market which is great.”
Nix told Fox 4 that 3691 units are currently on the market in Charlotte County, with 740 of those being added and 392 being sold in the last 30 days.
“People don’t realize that the flooding and damage was localized,” said Nix. “So older homes, places on the coastlines suffered the most, but newer homes built up to code and built up higher did well. But, businesses are already back open, a lot of beaches and boat ramps are back open so it feels like things are preparing for a relatively normal real estate season here in Southwest Florida."
According to the county, 4556 buildings sustained major damage and 256 were destroyed in Helene and Milton. Some homes with major damage will fall under FEMA’s 50% rule, meaning repairs to the structure exceed 50% of the value of the home and it will have to be demolished. Now some homes that were damaged in the hurricanes are being listed on the market in “as is” condition.
“If your repairs exceed that 50% number that 50% value, those homes have to be torn down,” said Nix. “So those sales are predicated on being able to put it back together and there being value in the structure itself, or conversely if it has to be torn down being able to take it away and what's the value of the land.”
Nix said although some storm damaged homes being sold will need to be torn down, if the buyer chooses to rebuild they will have to do so up to current building codes, which should help them fare better in future storms.
“The same thing is happening on manasota key where people bought the parcel essentially for a set price and they will be building up new homes to current codes,” said Nix. “And that's okay that's why we did fairly well even in Ian because we had hardened up our homes to be prepared for 150 mph winds”
