After the worst year in the home building business since the Great Depression, Southwest Florida builders and their subcontractors are getting busy again. Builders in Manatee County are firing up their cement mixers and nail guns the fastest. But other parts of the region — including hard-hit North Port — also are beginning to see an uptick in both permits and sales.
Permits in Manatee County more than doubled in the first three months of the year — 283 this year compared with 132 during the same period a year earlier, according to county government records. Sarasota County and North Port also saw rapid growth. Only Charlotte County continues to struggle, with permit activity rising and then falling again in monthly intervals.
“Older persons with active lifestyles also realize this is a good time to buy,” said Pat Neal, a Lakewood Ranch-based home builder. “And then there are speculators — people who are taking advantage of market conditions to buy small homes with the intention of riding prices up and trading them in for larger homes in five years’ time.”
Demand for homes priced at more than $300,000 also remains weak, thanks to a glut of unsold houses and the inability of local residents to move up to more expensive houses because so many are “underwater” — owing more than their house is worth. Concerns also are spreading that new home sales at every price level will be hurt in the months ahead because of the end of government tax incentives and the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite the uncertainty, debt-free builders feel cheerier. The debt-free Lakewood Ranch home builder has outstripped his rivals — local and national — in sales and rapid response to changing market conditions. During the 12 months ending May 31, Neal Communities filed 247 building permits in Manatee County, a 94 percent increase from the same period a year earlier and twice as many as its nearest competitor, The Ryland Group.
Higher-end builders like John Cannon Homes also are seeing more activity. The company has applied for 14 permits in the past 12 months, compared with just three during the preceding 12-months. But sales at the high end are much harder to come by. “From Mercedes to high-end restaurants, everyone is living in a new reality now,” said John Cannon, the company’s president and namesake. By contrast, builders in the low end of the market say they are finally raising prices again. “We raised prices in six of our 12 open subdivisions,” Neal said. “We’re doing that because we want to match supply with demand.” Neal is not the only one, said Tony Polito, the director of the Tampa Bay market Metrostudy, a national company that tracks the construction industry. “Prices in our region corrected earlier than other areas of the country,” Polito said. “That allows us to show some appreciation. Prices at the bottom of the market are definitely rising.”
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Tags: Demand, increase, Manatee County, Market condition, Southwest Florida
