AAA Realty Group

🏠 Floridians paid nearly $3 billion less for home and auto insurance last year than the year before.

THE BOTTOM LINE: For years, this looked like a street where the restaurants kept closing — fewer places open, and the ones left could charge whatever they wanted. What changed is that new operators started opening again. Twenty companies began writing coverage in Florida, bringing more than $850 million in new capital, and when there are more places to buy, prices stop climbing on their own.

THE NUMBERS 📊
1️⃣ HOMEOWNERS: $1.29 billion less paid in 2025 than 2024 — a 7% decline.
2️⃣ AUTO: $1.7 billion less, a 5% decline, with average rates down 4.1%.
3️⃣ RATE CHANGE: The average homeowners rate change was under 1%. In 2023, it was 9.6%.
4️⃣ DIVIDENDS: Insurers returned $211 million to policyholders — 43% more than the prior year and more than double 2023.

THE ONE THAT MATTERS MOST FOR BROWARD 📍
Citizens Property Insurance — the state-backed insurer of last resort — held 15% of Florida's total insured value in 2023. By 202,5 that was down to 3%. Citizens is not supposed to be anyone's first choice. When its share shrinks, it means private carriers are willing to write the risk again, and that is the single clearest sign the market is functioning.

WHERE THIS COMES FROM, HONESTLY
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association — the insurance industry's own trade group — commissioned the study, and it credits Florida's legal-system-abuse reforms for the turnaround. An industry-funded study arguing that laws favoring the industry worked is worth reading with that in mind. The direction of travel matches what I'm seeing at closings; treat the causation claim as their argument, not settled fact.

And a renewal quote is still the only number that tells you what YOUR house costs to insure. Statewide averages don't pay your bill.

Has your renewal actually come down this year, or are you still fighting it? I want to hear real numbers.

Source — Florida Realtors, Sept. 8, 2026: https://www.floridarealtors.org/news-media/news-articles/2026/09/florida-home-auto-premiums-drop-nearly-3-billion

Chuck Bonfiglio · 2026 President, Florida Realtors
Broker/Owner, AAA Realty Group · 954-998-6683

🏠 Broward isn't one housing market right now. It's two, and they're pulling in opposite directions.

Think of it as one shopping center with two anchor stores. On the single-family side there's a line at the door and thin shelves. On the condo side the shelves are full and the aisles are quiet. Same roof, same parking lot — completely different experience depending on which door you walk through.

THE NUMBERS 📊
1️⃣ SINGLE-FAMILY: 4.3 months of supply in July — under the six-month line that traditionally separates a seller's market from a buyer's market.
2️⃣ CONDO + TOWNHOME: 10.0 months of supply — well past that line.
3️⃣ THE PRICE GAP: July median sale price was $650,000 for single-family and $255,000 for condos and townhomes.

WHAT'S DRIVING IT 🔑
Single-family closed sales were up 8.0% year over year in July. Condo and townhome closings were down 2.8%. Buyers keep choosing the side with less supply, and that is exactly what keeps the gap open.
Cash tells the same story from the other direction: 20.8% of single-family sales closed cash, versus 49.9% on the condo and townhome side.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU 📍
Selling a single-family home: you're negotiating from the stronger side — but only if the price is right in the first two weeks on market.
Selling a condo: you're competing with roughly ten months of other listings. Price and condition are doing all the work.
Buying a condo: this is the most leverage buyers have had here in a while. Just budget carefully for assessments and reserves before you fall in love with the unit.

One caution before anyone runs with a headline: these are closed-sale figures for the full county. Your building, your street and your price band can look very different from the county average — that's what an actual CMA is for.

What are you seeing out there? Is your side of the Broward market the tight one or the slow one?

Source: MIAMI REALTORS® Broward County residential statistics, July 2026 — https://www.miamirealtors.com/news/south-florida-market-stats/

Chuck Bonfiglio · 2026 President, Florida Realtors
Broker/Owner, AAA Realty Group · 954-998-6683

South Florida leads the country in all-cash home purchases. 💵

THE BOTTOM LINE: Think of a cash buyer the way you'd think about an offer with no lender attached — nothing to underwrite, nothing to appraise, nothing to fall apart three weeks in. In this market, that certainty is worth real money at the table.

The numbers, from Realtor.com's report:

1️⃣ 43.2% — the all-cash share in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro, first in the nation among major metros.

2️⃣ 31.4% — the national all-cash share across the first four months of 2026.

3️⃣ 41.3% — Florida statewide, fifth-highest among all states.

THE BROWARD READ 📍 One caveat worth saying plainly: 43.2% covers the whole tri-county metro, not Broward on its own. But if you're listing here, the practical takeaway holds — a meaningful slice of your buyer pool isn't waiting on a rate lock, and a financed offer at the same price isn't automatically the same offer.

If you're weighing a cash offer against a financed one right now, what's actually driving the decision for you — the number, or the closing date?

Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cash-buyers-pull-back-faster-than-housing-market-as-cash-sales-fade-realtorcom-report-finds-302853195.html

Chuck Bonfiglio · Broker/Owner, AAA Realty Group · 954-998-6683

Florida home insurance just went down in 51 of the state's 67 counties.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
For four straight years, Florida homeowners were the tenants whose rent went up at every single renewal. This year the landlord finally sent a lower number. That does not make the rent cheap. It means the direction changed for the first time — and buyers, sellers, and lenders price off that direction.

1️⃣ THE STATEWIDE FILING. Citizens Property Insurance filed an 8.7% average decrease for homeowners. More than 330,000 policyholders across all 67 counties are seeing a reduction, and over 150,000 of them by 10% or more.

2️⃣ SOUTH FLORIDA TOOK THE DEEPEST CUTS. Broward −14.1%. Miami-Dade −14.0%. Palm Beach −11.9%. Monroe −11.3%. That's roughly 96,000 households across the four counties that absorbed the worst of the last four years.

3️⃣ THE PART NOBODY PUTS IN THE HEADLINE. The average Florida premium is still around $6,060 a year on $300,000 of dwelling coverage. A decrease is not the same as affordable. What changed is direction, not price.

WHAT TO ACTUALLY DO 🏠
A quote from 2024 is not the quote you'd get today. Pull a fresh one before you write an offer or set a list price. And if you walked away from a deal eighteen months ago because the insurance killed it — that file may be worth reopening. Make it part of your annual plan to shop all insurance rates, including auto!!

Has your renewal come in lower this year, or are you still waiting on it?

Sources — Executive Office of the Governor / Florida OIR: https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2026/governor-ron-desantis-announces-major-insurance-rate-relief-floridas-reforms
County rate data via Spectrum News 13: https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2026/07/30/florida-insurance-regulators-say-hurricane-premiums-are-falling-in-1-counties-this-year

Chuck Bonfiglio · Broker/Owner, AAA Realty Group · Broward County, FL

Florida didn't wait for the data center industry to self-regulate — it passed a law. 🚨

Here is how the new legislation (SB 484) actually protects residents:

1️⃣ NO UTILITY BAILOUTS: Data centers must cover their own power infrastructure costs instead of spreading them across everyday residential electric bills.
2️⃣ WATER PROTECTION: Facilities face stricter, separate water-use permits and can be mandated to use reclaimed water.
3️⃣ LOCAL CONTROL: Cities and counties keep 100% of their local zoning authority to restrict or deny projects.

Passed almost unanimously (Senate 37-0, House 92-16), most of this binding state law took effect July 1.

THE LOCAL PICTURE 📍
Public data trackers show 20 community actions across Florida ($26.1B in investment) — 55% have resolved favorably for local residents. A prime example is Lakeland's "Project Swan," where the city paused development for a year to draft local rules under these new state guardrails.

Data centers are coming, but Florida just set the playbook for how states can protect taxpayers and natural resources.

***

💬 What's happening in your city? Are data centers trying to build near you, or is your local council keeping them out? Let's discuss below.

Sources & Data:
• Florida SB 484 / Ch. 2026-65: flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/484
• Public Tracker: datacentertracker.org/?search=florida

Not lightly updated. Fully renovated.

New kitchen: white cabinetry, quartz counters, glass mosaic backsplash, a center prep island, and all-new stainless appliances.

Both baths fully rebuilt: navy vanities, brushed gold fixtures, framed mirrors, large-format marble-look porcelain, and a frameless glass walk-in shower in the primary.

Wood-look plank tile flooring across the bottom level and stairs. Fresh paint. New lighting and fans throughout.

736 NW 98th Circle, Plantation. 2 bed / 2.5 bath, 1,372 sqft, corner unit with a private fenced courtyard. Roof replaced in 2020. $400,000.

Swipe through, then come see it in person. DM me for more info or showings.

This is the kind of news I love to share. For years, Florida Realtors® has advocated for reforms to make Florida a place where insurers can operate — and coverage more affordable for families. It’s paying off with more carriers competing, less litigation, and more choices for homeowners.

A new report shows Citizens cutting rates an average of 8.8% statewide — its biggest drop in 24 years — and private insurers filing 160+ times to either decrease rates or hold them steady.

My #1 tip: Shop your policy at renewal. More competition means more choices for you. Link in bio for more.

Are Florida home values really falling? 🤔

If you only looked at a few national headlines, you might think so. But context matters, and that's where Realtors brings perspective.

Our latest statewide data paints a more balanced (and positive) picture of what's actually happening across the state.

Chief Economist, Brad O'Connor, spoke with TODAY and Palm Beach Post to break it down and focus on what matters most: closed sales, not list prices, and real market activity, not assumptions.

Here's what the latest numbers show:
➡️ Home sales are up year over year
➡️ Median prices are largely holding steady
➡️ Distressed sales remain a very small share of the market

For buyers and sellers, the takeaway is simple. Local insight cuts through the noise and gives people confidence in their next move. That's exactly what Realtors® provide: trusted, on-the-ground guidance to help you make the right decision for your family.

Read the full story below👇
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/state/2026/03/18/some-say-florida-home-values-are-falling-heres-what-the-facts-show/89142524007/

Are Florida home values falling? Here's what the latest numbers show The February 2026 home sales numbers paint a different picture of the Florida real estate market than a pair of recent national reports.

Is buying a home earlier still worth it?

Here's the simple answer: People who buy earlier tend to build more wealth over time because they have more years for equity to grow. By 50, early buyers often have about 22.5% higher net worth than those who wait. That's the power of time.

Buying young can be harder today, no doubt. But the long‑term benefits of homeownership are still real. Here's how you can make it work:

https://www.floridarealtors.org/news-media/news-articles/2026/03/report-earlier-homebuying-builds-more-wealth

➡️ Know your real budget
➡️ Start smaller if needed
➡️ Explore assistance programs
➡️ Work with a trusted Realtor® who knows your parameters and goals

Even a starter home can be a strong first step to building stability and opportunity for you and your family for years to come.