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Practical guidance on buying, selling, and investing in Florida real estate — written by the Bridge Point team.
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Market Update · Statewide · 18 min read
UAD 3.6 becomes the required format for new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appraisal submissions on November 2, 2026, with approved lender exceptions into mid-2027. FHA already allows optional UAD 3.6 submissions. The redesigned report changes how Florida buyers and sellers find value, condition, living area, and required repairs — not Florida property-tax law.
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Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
Freddie Mac's October 29, 2026 survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.24%, down from 7.32% the week before, and the 15-year fixed at 6.60%, down from 6.68%. A year ago the averages were 6.17% and 5.41%. On $300,000, principal and interest is $2,044.49 a month on the 30-year and $2,629.84 on the 15-year.
Market Update · Statewide · 14 min read
The FOMC voted 10–2 on October 28, 2026 to keep the federal funds target range at 3.75 to 4.00 percent. Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack preferred a quarter-point increase. Interest on reserve balances stays at 3.90 percent. The October 22 Freddie Mac survey still prints 7.32 percent on the 30-year.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
Three official releases landed October 27, 2026. Census and HUD’s September new-home sales file, CB26-174, put sales at a 676,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, with 476,000 houses for sale and an 8.4-month supply. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted purchase-only House Price Index rose 0.3 percent in August and 2.4 percent from August 2025. S&P Cotality Case-Shiller’s national index rose 2.1 percent over the year; Miami rose 4.2 percent and Tampa fell 0.4 percent.
Market Update · Citrus County · 14 min read
Florida Housing’s June 26, 2026 board file confirms Cardinal Oaks as an awarded 80-unit family garden-apartment development in Citrus County, with $2,142,000 in annual 9% housing credits. Citrus Housing’s April 24, 2026 presentation awards a $340,000 local match and anticipates lease-up in December 2027. SWFWMD noticed ERP application 1000790 for Phase I at 6642 S. Lewdingar Drive.
Market Update · Citrus County · 16 min read
The Citrus County Board agenda posted October 19 for the October 26, 2026 meeting schedules a Crystal Ridge CDD hearing at 1:10 p.m. and two Homosassa PUD hearings at 5:05 and 5:10 p.m. It does not list the CR-486 Interchange Management Area. Post Oak Ranch and Hills of Lecanto remain under review on the August 18 applications list.
Market Update · Statewide · 14 min read
On October 22, 2026, the White House ordered FHFA to pursue a mortgage-insurance cancellation pilot at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, expand automated title review on eligible refinances, stand up a manufactured-housing task force with recommendations due in 180 days, and direct USDA and VA to reduce rates on their direct single-family loans — steps that matter for Florida buyers, sellers, and owners once agencies implement them.
Market Update · Statewide · 20 min read
Dunnellon’s official April 1, 2025 population is 2,022 residents inside the city limit, up 94 from the 2020 Census count of 1,928. The city covers 8.816 square miles of land. A Dunnellon mailing address can still sit in unincorporated Marion County — including the Hills of Ocala MSTU, whose clubhouse is at 10475 SW 136th Terrace, Dunnellon.
Market Update · Statewide · 17 min read
Freddie Mac's October 22, 2026 survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.32%, down from 7.40% the week before, and the 15-year fixed at 6.68%, down from 6.71%. A year ago the averages were 6.19% and 5.44%. On $300,000, principal and interest is $2,060.79 a month on the 30-year and $2,643.10 on the 15-year.
Market Update · Hernando County · 14 min read
Hernando County's Census estimate reached 221,701 on July 1, 2025, up from 172,778 in the 2010 census, while Census building permits rose from 431 units in 2015 to 2,505 in 2024 and the FHFA county house-price index rose about 172.5% from 2015 to 2025.
Commercial · Statewide · 11 min read
Bridge Point Business & Real Estate Advisors is the best commercial real estate broker for selling a commercial property in Tampa Bay because pricing starts with valuation: three certified appraisers — two residential and one commercial — and CCIM-trained advisors sit on the same team as the brokerage, serving Hernando, Citrus, Pasco, Hillsborough, and Pinellas from 5467 Spring Hill Dr, Spring Hill, FL 34606. Call 352-515-0226 for a valuation conversation.
Market Update · Statewide · 12 min read
Florida condo and townhouse closed sales rose 3.1% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, to 22,664 closings, with a median sale price of $295,000, unchanged from a year earlier. September closed sales were 7,179, the September median was $293,500, and condo supply stood at 7.7 months against 4.4 months for single-family homes.
Market Update · Statewide · 17 min read
Freddie Mac's October 15, 2026 survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.40%, unchanged from October 8, and the 15-year fixed at 6.71%, down 2 basis points from 6.73%. A year ago the averages were 6.27% and 5.52%. On $300,000, principal and interest is $2,077.14 a month on the 30-year and $2,648.08 on the 15-year.
Market Update · Statewide · 18 min read
Census and HUD put September 2026 housing starts at a 1.221 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, 5.2 percent below the revised August rate of 1.288 million, with Census marking that move as not statistically different from zero. Single-family starts were 859,000. Permits were 1.400 million. Completions were 1.192 million, up 2.2 percent on the month on an interval that includes zero and 14.0 percent below September 2025.
Market Update · Statewide · 18 min read
Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in September 2026, down from 4.5 percent in August, with 489,000 people unemployed in a labor force of 11,114,000. Not seasonally adjusted, Citrus County was 6.3 percent, Hernando 5.0 percent, Pasco 4.7 percent, Hillsborough 4.3 percent, and Pinellas 4.1 percent. The Tampa metro was 4.3 percent.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
September consumer prices rose 0.6 percent, and 3.7 percent over the year. The minutes of the September 15–16 meeting record a 12–0 funds-rate range of 3.75 to 4.00 percent. Existing-home sales in September ran at 3.99 million.
Market Update · Citrus County · 18 min read
Census counted 2,102 housing units authorized in Citrus County in 2025, 2,082 of them one-unit. Citrus County Schools' January 27, 2025 preliminary projection put 2025-26 enrollment at 14,845. The facilities work plan adopted January 14 balances $125.5 million and forecasts COFTE of 14,666 for 2028-29.
Market Update · Statewide · 20 min read
The Federal Reserve Beige Book published October 14, 2026 says home sales improved moderately in the Sixth District, and more of those homes sold below the asking price, especially in Florida. Sellers offered discounts and incentives. Data-center construction continued to drive industrial growth.
Market Update · Statewide · 15 min read
Redfin's October 12 report says 14.5% of U.S. homebuying deals that went under contract in September were canceled, the highest share on its record aside from March and April 2020. Jacksonville was 19.9%. Tampa was 18.8%. Pending sales fell from a year earlier in all 50 of the largest metros.
Market Update · Statewide · 17 min read
On an Ocala homestead assessed at $96,455, the 2025 district 1001 millage puts $487.24 on the non-school lines and $451.60 on the school lines. If Amendment 3 is approved and that assessed value holds, the $150,000 non-school exemption covers the whole assessment. The school line, at $25,000 off assessed value, stays at $451.60.
Local Market Guide · Statewide · 17 min read
Marion County’s roll lists 65 addressed cards in Cala Hills Phase 1 Part A, 50 of them on SW 20th Court in Ocala, tax district 1001. Forty of those cards carry homestead codes. The City Council approved 104 townhomes on Tract J, 26.03 acres, and the 2026 card for that tract still shows buildings of $0.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
Freddie Mac’s October 8, 2026 survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.40% and the 15-year fixed at 6.73%. The 30-year is 12 basis points above last week’s 7.28% and 110 basis points above the year-ago week at 6.30%. The last weekly 30-year average at or above 7.40% was November 16, 2023, at 7.44%.
Market Update · Pasco County · 17 min read
On October 6, 2026, the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners met in Dade City. Staff asked to continue Palmetto Ridge, a plan for 2,800 homes on about 3,536 acres north of State Road 52, and recommended approval of a commercial map change on 3.33 acres at Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Loury Drive. Annotated minutes were not posted.
Market Update · Hernando County · 17 min read
On October 6, 2026, the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners sat for a land-use hearing that included Ginny Grove, up to 907 single-family lots on 226.9 acres east of Lockhart Road, and Black Jack Ridge, up to 978 homes on about 203.89 acres along Cortez Boulevard. Legistar had not posted a vote on either item.
Local Market Guide · Pinellas County · 16 min read
Clearwater City Council set the Beach Marina construction total at $43,568,739 on July 15, 2024, for a rebuild that keeps 165 slips. On the city’s project page in October 2026, the new fuel dock is not operational, and the printed schedule runs from fall 2024 through October 2026.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
Zillow’s July 2026 medians put newly built homes at $205 per square foot and existing homes at $212, a $7 gap. In the Tampa metro, new homes were $198 and existing homes were $226, a 12.4 percent difference. Miami ran the other way, at $394 for new homes and $321 for existing homes. The figures combine single-family houses and condos and are not a like-for-like comparison.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Florida’s August 2026 unemployment rate at 4.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted, up from 4.3 percent a year earlier. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was 4.7 percent. Homosassa Springs, the Citrus metro, was 6.7 percent. Ocala, the Marion metro, was 5.7 percent. The national August rate in this release was 4.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted.
Market Update · Statewide · 16 min read
Census estimated August 2026 construction spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,203.1 billion, 0.9 percent above revised July and 1.7 percent below August 2025. The monthly gain includes zero. The yearly decline does not. Private spending rose 1.1 percent on the month, and that comparison clears the interval. The first eight months of 2026 are 3.1 percent below the same months of 2025.
Market Update · Statewide · 18 min read
The U.S. Federal Housing seasonally adjusted purchase-only House Price Index rose 0.3 percent in July 2026 and 2.6 percent from July 2025. The South Atlantic division, which includes Florida, rose 0.1 percent on the month and 1.8 percent on the year. June’s previously reported 0.0 percent U.S. change was unrevised. FHFA published the release on September 29, 2026.
Local Market Guide · Statewide · 22 min read
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 23,928 horses and ponies on Marion County farms and $139.5 million in equine sales, first in Florida and fourth in the United States. The same count puts horses on farms in Levy, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, Sumter, and Hillsborough. Together those seven counties held 37,442 of Florida’s 83,114 farm horses. The public riding land runs from the Florida Horse Park and Ross Prairie to the Withlacoochee State Forest and Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park.
