The Orlando Sentinel’s Top Workplace in Central Florida distinction is based on anonymous workplace culture surveys filled out by company employees.

State regulators have approved as many as 649,000 policies for private insurers in October and November, another sign Florida’s insurance market is recovering.

Cooling inflation is good news for future interest rate cuts in the coming months and years. Interest rates are tied to mortgage rates.

Housing affordability is improving for the first time in four years, an economist said. Buy now because it’s unlikely to become markedly cheaper in the near future.      

Growing home equity is helping homeowners build financial buffers, and mortgage delinquencies have dropped, according to CoreLogic.

Member resources include property insurance information, housing help, legal support and financial aid for those in need.

Month over month, contract signings rose in the Midwest, South and West but dropped in the Northeast.  

Mortgage-rate locks rose 68% from a month earlier in the days after the Fed announced its interest-rate cut. Many house hunters had been waiting for the cut.

Expectations of the Federal Reserve beginning the first in a series of rate reductions kept potential home buyers in a holding pattern in August.

Homebuilder stocks have surged as investors expect these companies to thrive from lower mortgage rates and a boost in building activity.