How Is The Government Shutdown Affecting Real Estate in Naples and Southwest Florida?

We are now on Day 20 of the Partial Government Shutdown. How is it affecting real estate in Naples and Southwest Florida?

We did an article before Christmas about how we thought, based on experience, talking about the incredible number of ways a real estate sale or purchase can be affected by a government shutdown. You Can Read That Article From December 23, 2018 Here 👉How Does Government Shutdown Affect Buying or Selling a Home? . We are providing our update here, as well as the results of a National Association of Realtors (NAR) Survey below. We will continue to provide periodic updates as the shutdown continues as well.

---

On Day 20 of the government shutdown, Janet Berry of the Berry Luxury Home Team at Premiere Plus Realty says “we were contacted by the National Association of Realtors, and we continue to get questions from clients, asking us about the shutdown, and what ramifications we are seeing at this point. To be honest, I think this is our 19th or 20th shutdown varying in length from 1 to 21+days since the 70’s and, looking back at history, they have never had a major impact on the stock market, bond market, or real estate markets. Even though it looks like this one will be the longest one in history, it also started during the holidays which is historically a slow time.”

Obviously, all businesses and sectors are experiencing different affects, and regionally things can be vastly different, even between Different Areas within Florida.

Berry also said “This has been one of our busiest months in history, and that seems consistent with other Realtors I talk to as well. One agent I spoke with mentioned a customer who was planning on a specific type of loan that would have been affected by the shutdown, but their mortgage broker was able to move them into a different loan type, and they only excepted a short delay. We only have one customer who is looking at alternative financing options, and many of our clients are cash buyers. Discussions we have had with clients do not indicate any concerns over economic uncertainty at this point.”

NAR survey: 1 in 4 real estate sales impacted by shutdown

CHICAGO – Jan. 9, 2019 – On Dec. 21, 2018, the President and Congress failed to an agreement regarding provisions of a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government. That led to a partial federal government shutdown that affected aspects of federal housing, mortgage and programs that affect the real estate industry.

👆Click Here To Read The Survey 👆

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) conducted a member survey to find out how the shutdown is impacting Realtors and real estate transactions, and a hefty 75 percent of members said they've seen no affect so far, though shutdown problems tend to get worse the longer the shutdown lasts. Eleven percent reported an impact on current clients and 11 percent on potential clients.

NAR survey findings of Realtors impacted by the shutdown

If respondents reported an impact on current or potential clients, they were asked further details. They were alsoallowed to pick more than one response since they may be working with more than one client.

• The most common impact, at 25 percent (6.25 percent of all respondents), was the buyer decided not to buy due to general economic uncertainty, even though they were not a federal government employee; 9 percent had clients who decided not to buy, as their clients are federal government employees.

• 6 percent had a seller who could not sell because their move was impacted by their employment.

• 3 percent had a buyer who was unable to buy due to lender rejection based on furlough (federal government employee or contractor).

• 3 percent had a buyer client who decided not to buy because of lost income or furlough (federal government contractor).

• 17 percent (4.25 percent of all respondents) had a delay because of a USDA loan, 13 percent (3.25 percent of all respondents) had a delay due to IRS income verification, 9 percent (2.25 percent of all respondents) had a delay due to FHA loans, 6 percent (1.5 percent of all respondents) had a delay due to a VA loan, and 9 percent (2.25 percent of all respondents) did not cite the reason for the delay.

• Other Realtors said they lost bids on homes due to the shutdown because: six percent said their buyer was using a FHA loan, four percent buyer a USDA loan, and 3 percent buyer a VA loan.

• Members also had contracts terminated due to the shutdown: 2 percent each because their buyer was using a VA loan or USDA loan, an 1 percent with a VA loan.

In past shutdowns, 59 percent of respondents active in real estate and were not impacted. However 13 percent had delayed transactions and three percent had lost transactions.

© 2019 Florida Realtors®