Florida: the recovery begins?

There is reason to be optimistic about Florida property market, claims the FAR…

Only weeks after Florida voters passed Amendment 1 in late January, Florida Realtors have noted signs of increased interest from potential homebuyers heartened by the measure’s property tax relief benefits, especially the portability provision.

In a recent online poll conducted by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR)  about  a third — 35.5 percent – of the Realtor respondents answered yes, when asked if more property owners were interested in buying or selling property, thanks to portability.

Property tax portability is one of the benefits now made law under Amendment 1, which allows Florida homeowners to transfer their Save Our Homes tax benefits from their old homestead to a newly purchased home.

‘Just the beginning’

Portability applies to homes purchased in 2007 and later, and the benefit is capped at $500,000.
FAR’s informal survey also asked Realtors if “the property tax relief afforded by Amendment 1 is encouraging prospects to get off the fence and buy.” Again, of those polled, about a third — 30.4 percent — said yes.

The online survey was conducted on FAR’s member Web site at www.floridarealtors.org from March 5 through 10, and a total of 1,931 completed responses were received to the survey during this time.

Chuck Bonfiglio, FAR President, commented: “This is only the beginning. Conducted just seven weeks after passage of Amendment 1, this poll shows that many of our Realtor members are starting to see heightened interest in the state’s housing market and reporting signs of increased activity.

“We’re looking forward to more positive activity in the coming months, as current Florida property owners and those looking to become Florida property owners gain a better understanding of what the new law means and start to take advantage of portability and its other benefits.”