The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to between 0.50 of a percent and 0.75 of a percent will not by itself affect the South Florida economy.
The rise in rates has been forecast for months, and frankly any commercial project where a small increase in rates would cause a project to be materially less successful should not be built, purchased or financed in the first place. That being said, the Fed’s decision is just one of many indicators that we are heading toward a higher interest-rate environment which, when coupled with other factors that are a near-certainty under a Trump presidency, will negatively affect South Florida real estate.
