|
 |
|
Miami Herald
Feb. 1, 2005
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10783581.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
SOUTH FLORIDA ECONOMY
New
homes keep coming in rush South
Florida home construction surged in 2004, much higher
even than record national figures. Miami-Dade is enjoying
a boom. Broward also saw growth, but construction is
short of its heyday.
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@herald.com
The number of new single-family homes built in
Miami-Dade County jumped nearly 40 percent
in 2004, and Broward County home construction grew 27
percent, according to figures released Monday by housing
market research firm Metrostudy.
Those strong statistics were released on the same day
the U.S. Commerce Department announced that new-home
sales across the country grew 8.9 percent to a record
1.18 million last year.
Neither the U.S. nor the South Florida numbers include
condominiums, which are being built locally at unprecedented
levels.
The Miami-Dade and Broward figures represent a roaring
housing market where builders cannot keep up with buyers'
appetite for new homes.
''It is a very, very strong market right now,'' said
Stuart Miller, chief executive of Miami-based home-building
giant Lennar Corp. ``The only limiting factor is land
availability.''
That has set off a construction rush in South Miami-Dade
and driven Broward County prices skyward.
More than 8,600 single-family homes were built in Miami-Dade
in 2004. A year ago, about 6,000 new homes were built
, and in the past 10 years the average number of new
home starts hovered around 5,000 annually, said Bradley
Hunter, director of Metrostudy's South Florida division.
The surge was attributed to massive new home construction
in Homestead, the South Miami-Dade city that is one
of the few remaining places in the county with large
tracts of developable land. But Bradley said the fact
Broward is largely built out has also forced builders
to refocus on single-family development in Miami-Dade
communities like Doral.
''Outside of Homestead, there has been surprising resilience
and success on behalf of builders in finding sites in
Miami-Dade,'' Hunter said. ``When Broward ran out [of
developable land], Dade has had to turn in on itself
and get more creative in finding housing solutions.''
Despite its land shortage, Broward County saw growth
in new home construction in 2004 compared with a year
ago. Hunter attributed the progress to town-house development
in Broward but cautioned that the county's numbers are
not a sign of significant growth because the once-thriving
market there has slowed considerably.
''The Broward numbers were more of a bounce off the
bottom than a sign that suddenly new frontiers of land
are opening up,'' Hunter said.
In 2004, fewer than 5,000 new homes were built in Broward,
but even fewer -- 3,911 -- were built in 2003, according
to Metrostudy. Contrast that with six years ago, when
some 11,000 homes were built.
Limited land supplies have led to soaring prices. More
than one-half of the homes under construction in Broward
will be priced at $400,000 or higher, Hunter said. ``Affordability
is clearly going to become a more serious issue in Broward.''
With shrinking land supplies in South Florida, residential
developers have turned to condominiums. Thousands of
condo units are now planned from Fort Lauderdale to
Miami.
Economists credit strength in the nation's housing market
over the past four years to the aggressive credit easing
undertaken by the Federal Reserve in 2001.
But some market experts predict that the pace is about
to slow down. Nationally, it already has: Sales rose
a lower-than-expected 0.1 percent in December after
having fallen by 13.1 percent in November.
Since June, the Fed has been gradually raising its benchmark
federal funds rates, pushing it from a 46-year low of
1 percent to 2.25 percent currently, with another quarter-point
increase expected from the Fed this Wednesday.
So far, the Fed's rate hikes have had little impact
on mortgage rates. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages
last week dropped to 5.66 percent, compared with 6.25
percent in late June when the Fed started boosting rates.
And some think that the Fed's actions have actually
spurred buying in South Florida. ''There is always a
phenomenon with increasing rates that it is a call to
action for people that have been waiting on the sidelines,''
said Alan Levan, chief executive and chairman of BankAtlantic
Bancorp and builder Levitt Corp. ``As rates continue
to go up, more and more renters who are interested in
buying a home will want to jump in before rates get
away from them.''
This report was supplemented with material from The Associated Press |
|
|
