Are hurricanes causing a slowdown in people moving to Florida?

ORLANDO, Fla. — The destruction left behind by Hurricane Milton again has residents talking about the effects development has on flooding.

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The development of Central Florida hasn’t happened in a vacuum. People from northern states coming down for the weather or other reasons have led to a rapid increase in home values and rents, especially following the pandemic.

The market has cooled over the past two years – but will Helene, Milton and other recent storms accelerate that trend?

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Keller Williams agent Ray Lopez said he doesn’t think so.

“I haven’t heard a lot of people backing out of contracts because of hurricanes or moving specifically out of the area because of the weather,” Lopez said. “We’re a little bit more insulated being in the central part of the state.”

Lopez said September was the Orlando area’s slowest in 12 years, creating a strong buyer’s market for the region.

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However, Central Florida is still considered one of the most desirable places to move to – and Lopez doesn’t expect the current trend to last.

“Those people aren’t just going to not buy ever. They’re going to buy next year,” he explained. “The things that are holding people back right now are affordability and election uncertainty, you know. And really, affordability is the biggest one.”

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Lopez said falling interest rates would eventually entice more people to buy as it again became cheaper than renting.

At the end of his interview, Lopez injected one more thing for people to consider: he said some families are paying thousands of dollars more in taxes than they should be because they don’t realize they can take their existing homestead exemption values with them when they move houses.

“The average Floridian doesn’t know that, so they lose that benefit,” he said, mentioning the benefit can be claimed up to three years after a move. “There are people that can be listening to this newscast right now that have money sitting in their last home that sits there until it drops off three years later.”

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