Florida
‘Living and working in Florida is like being in a toxic relationship,’ but the Northeast shows jarring differences, real estate founder says | Fortune
In a candid interview, top real estate agent and founder of SYKES Properties, Erin Sykes, got real about the state of the Florida real estate market. “Living and working in Florida is like being in a toxic relationship,” she said at the ResiDay conference in an interview with ResiClub editor Meghan Malas.
Now, Skykes, whose firm showcases multimillion-dollar deals in both Florida and the Northeast, said she’s watching two Americas diverge in real time. In the Northeast, she’s seeing bidding wars have returned in commuter suburbs like Monmouth County, N.J., and mid-Long Island, where buyers still fight for an acre and an elite school district. In Florida, by contrast, she described a market in withdrawal, nursing a hangover after a flurry of activity. “Just a couple years ago, we were being love-bombed and told how great we were,” she said, citing Florida’s burgeoning status as “Wall Street South,” a new finance hub. Now, things are “flat” or even heading downward.
Home prices in Florida have fallen 5.4% year-over-year, dragged down by a glut of aging condos facing six-figure special assessments and post-Surfside safety mandates. Single-family homes, meanwhile, remain relatively resilient, she noted. She characterized the Sunshine State’s housing scene as a cycle of boom, bust, and burnout. She’s always fueled by the belief that somehow, the next round will be different.
“Now we’re being told, ‘Oh, you’re too expensive,’ and kind of being discarded,” Sykes said. “You know, the conversation changes by the day, really.”
Noting that Florida has always been a boom-or-bust state, she said she sees signs of moderation rather than collapse. “Rather than being the boom up here and the bust way down here like we saw in 2008 and 2009, the waves are becoming flatter,” she said. While there may be a pullback in prices, “really, a 5% pullback is nothing when your house has appreciated 25%.”
For Florida, Sykes argued, even a flat market signals stability after years of breakneck appreciation—especially in Palm Beach, where home values have jumped as much as 200% in the past few years.
The challenge of dual market personalities
Sykes described jarring regional differences. In Florida as an agent, you’re “just trying to really push and pull and drag deals together, you’re getting discounts of 5%, 10%, 20% off list price,” but then in the Northeast you find yourself going into a bidding war. “It’s like having a multiple personality disorder.”
That volatility, she noted, reflects a broader split between regions that overheated during the pandemic and those returning to normal. The migration wave that sent high earners south may have turbocharged Florida’s boom but also exposed its fragility. Now, Sykes said, agents and homeowners alike are navigating two competing realities: the Northeast’s cautious recovery and the Southeast’s cooling after years of mania.
She also outlined a bifurcation within the Florida housing market: while single-family homes remain robust thanks to demand for space among incoming families, condos face mounting challenges. That’s difficult because they are “really what has been driving down the Florida market,” and they are facing new challenges from special assessments, strengthened structural regulations, and fallout from incidents like the Surfside collapse. Pre-selling of new-construction condos continues apace, she said, with West Palm Beach alone seeing many significant developments underway.
Sykes described a bifurcation between single-family homes and condos in Florida, since its exploding population is full of people who left Manhattan or Chicago and “wanted their own space.” She said single-family homes are doing well, and then “We’re seeing condos bifurcated, and then within that bifurcation of condos, a secondary bifurcation.”
“Florida,” she concluded, “you have to always take with a grain of salt.”
The number of fatalities because of Brightline train collisions since 2017 unofficially stands at about 214, including 17 in 2026. The company says that is down 30% compared to 2025.
Nearly halfway through 2026, high-speed Brightline trains in Florida have now been involved in over 200 deaths since 2017, even as the company stresses its ongoing safety improvements.
The number of fatalities because of Brightline train collisions since 2017 unofficially stands at about 214, including 17 in 2026 according to media reports, law firms and third-party observers. The company says incidents, which include any contact a train has with another object, have dropped 30% compared with the same time last year.
The company also said it is in the midst of implementing a series of safety improvements using a $45 million federal grant, plus $10 million from Brightline itself. These include fencing, warning and suicide prevention signs and other installations at 327 crossings from Miami to Cocoa.
“These enhancements to the corridor, combined with our education and enforcement efforts, reflect our commitment to continually prioritizing safety and preventing avoidable incidents,” said Brightline Florida CEO Patrick Goddard in a news release.
It’s been well-established that privately owned Brightline, which runs from Miami to Orlando, has the highest death rate per mile traveled of any railroad in the U.S. As of 2025, that figure was 25 deaths per million miles, or about one person every 13 days.
In comparison, that per-mile number is three times higher than Tri-Rail (8.12 deaths per millions miles) and SunRail (8.04) and nearly six times higher than Amtrak (4.20), according to the Florida-based Meldon Law firm.
Where do most Brightline accidents happen in Florida?
In densely populated South Florida, the trains run at speeds of 79 mph or above, with a top speed of about 125 mph in open areas. The vast majority of fatalities occur in the stretch between Miami and West Palm Beach.
Some are suicides. Some are people in vehicles or on bicycles trying to beat the trains or stuck at a crossing. Others are people simply walking on the tracks, apparently unaware a speeding train approaches.
In two recent incidents, a 68-year-old bicyclist was killed May 26 after he was struck by a Brightline train in Stuart. On May 24, two people died when their car was hit by a train in West Palm Beach even though the crossing gate arms were down.
In urban Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties the trains run at grade level, meaning no elevation above the ground. There are also numerous “quiet zones” along the route where the trains do not sound their horns to avoid disturbing residents and businesses.
Where are the least amount of fatal Brightline train accidents in Florida?
The route from Cocoa to Orlando goes through a more rural area, with fewer crossings and 6-foot fencing along the tracks. In 27 months since that section opened, no fatal accidents have been recorded, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis.
In the long term, Brightline hopes to connect Orlando with the Tampa Bay area. The timing for that proposed extension is uncertain.
What is Brightline’s financial situation?
As deaths continue to mount, so does debt.
The rail line lost more than $233 million in 2025 despite higher revenues than 2024, according to its annual financial statement, prepared by consulting firm Ernst & Young and released April 30.
“Substantial doubt exists about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the firm wrote. Brightline acknowledged it lacks the money to pay off more than $5 billion in debt and interest on schedule.
At the same time, Brightline passengers’ average fares fell during first three months of this year compared to the first quarter of 2025, another company report shows, and its trains carried a quarterly record of more than 900,000 passengers.
Credit-rating agencies have said the company needs either much higher fares or ridership to stay solvent.
The Miami-to-Orlando train company made $214 million in 2025, an increase from about $188 million in 2024, the audit shows.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Chris Persaud contributed to this report.
Curt Anderson is the Policy and Politics Reporter for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY at https://tallahassee.com/newsletters.
Push for Elevate Florida funding
Almost two years after Hurricane Helene, some people are still waiting to get back into their homes. They’ve been on hold waiting for help from the Elevate Florida program. FOX 13’s Kylie Jones reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Some homeowners in St. Pete are still waiting for funding to raise their home after it flooded during Hurricane Helene.
One couple is still waiting for an update on their application to the Elevate Florida program — after about a year with no progress.
PREVIOUS: Thousands denied in first round of Florida’s new home elevation program
Elevate Florida program delays
What we know:
Jason and Carrie Nash’s home in Shore Acres had about four feet of water inside after Hurricane Helene. It solidified their decision to raise their home.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management opened the Elevate Florida program following Helene. The program is expected to cover approximately 75% of the costs to lift homes using federal grant money from FEMA. The homeowner would be expected to cover the remaining 25% of the cost.
The couple applied to the program and received an email last summer from Elevate Florida, saying the state had sent their application to FEMA for further review. Jason Nash says in November, they still hadn’t heard anything.
Mixed reactions as Shores Acres awaits ‘Elevate Florida’ decisions
He says they got an email from Elevate Florida in March, explaining that FEMA processing has been repeatedly delayed by factors outside the control of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Elevate Florida. Last week, Pinellas County state lawmakers signed a letter to congressional leaders, calling on them to urge federal agencies to expedite the grant approval process.
“To put some more staffing, expedite the awards of these programs,” Rep. Lindsay Cross said.
Cross says that because the grant money being awarded is coming from federal funding, they don’t have direct control at the state level.
“Once that award comes, there’s still the stages of designing and permitting and getting people temporary housing in some cases,” she said.
According to the Elevate Florida website, federal grant requirements added extra review steps in June of last year, which could impact the timeline of the program.
St. Pete housing gridlock
What they’re saying:
Nash and his wife haven’t been able to live in their home for almost two years. The couple has been renting, while they wait to hopefully get awarded a grant from Elevate Florida.
“We not only have double rent, double bills, double everything, but on top of that, we’re paying for a storage unit to house all of our belongings in,” Nash said.
Nash says he’s reached out to leaders on the local, state and federal level, but feels like he isn’t getting answers.
“The worst thing that somebody can tell you in life is ‘Maybe’, because it still gives you hope,” he said. “And that’s all we’re getting, is ‘Maybes.’”
Stalled federal grant awards
What we don’t know:
It remains unclear exactly when FEMA will finalize the remaining applications. Nash says they received an email from Elevate Florida last week, saying 16 projects had been awarded funding, and that FEMA was continuing to award grants and would update homeowners.
FOX 13 reached out to the Florida Division of Emergency Management and is waiting for a response.
The other side:
On Monday night, a FEMA representative shared the following statement:
“FEMA obligates Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds to the state, not homeowners directly. Elevate Florida is a state-managed mitigation program. Questions should be sent to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.”
FEMA also directed people to its latest updates on funding awarded in Florida here.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from an interview with a St. Pete homeowner, an interview with Rep. Lindsay Cross, a letter written by state representatives from Pinellas County, the Elevate Florida website and a statement from FEMA.
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