Florida ranks Number 2 behind California in terms of jumbo volume for both primary and secondary homes at Quicken Loans, says Bill Banfield, vice president of one of the country's largest jumbo lenders. Banfield says, "When you have got people who get cold in the wintertime, they start thinking about places they would rather be. And that places Florida at the top of the list.''
According to Florida Realtors, sales of single-family homes in Florida were up 19.5 percent, while condo sales are up 14.6 percent compared with last year's. In this sunshine state, the median price for single-family homes is $203,500, well under the $417,000 limit for government-backed loans in all but two counties in Florida.
Realtor reported that the top metro areas in Florida with high jumbo volume include the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area (median sales price $295,000), Cape Coral-Fort Myers ($212,250), North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota ($245,000), and Jacksonville ($212,000), says Andre Brooks of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, which holds the largest volume of jumbo mortgage in the U.S.
Other areas in Florida with jumbo lending are Naples-Marco Island where the conforming loan limit is $425,000. Monroe County in the Florida Keys is the only county that exceeds the $417,000 limit, where conforming loans are capped at $529,000. Ms. Hegedus-Garcia, an agent with Miami-based Related ISG International Realty, said that, "While jumbo mortgages typically require a 20% down payment, some Miami sellers will also make that mandatory even when the buyer's lender has loose requirements," as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
Many of the borrowers in Florida are retirees who want to move south, or out-of-state residents who want to buy vacation homes. Business owners also like to move to Florida because of its business-friendly environment. Foreign buyers from South America and France, are also big in the Miami area, where more than half of sales this summer have been cash transactions, says Ms. Hegedus-Garcia. In competitive markets like in the Miami area, buyers should be prepared for bidding, and they sometimes lose out to cash buyers even when they bid higher.
