A Florida Real Estate Boom Is In the Making, Developers Say

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BRADENTON -- When Pat Neal, the developer of more than 8,800 homes in Manatee County, looks at the home market in Florida he sees great things ahead - and not very far off.

The veteran builder, whose career has survived nearly a dozen boom-and-bust cycles since he went into business for himself 42 years ago, says the length of the current bust at six years (for new homes it began in 2005) is the longest ever.

But Manatee County will get its share of the 11 million baby boomers who are retiring here in the next couple of decades, he said, and the first impact could be a quintupling of Florida home sales in the next two to three years. That would mean that from today's low of 20,000 homes,100,000 would be built in the state by the end of 2013, he said.

Local builder Britt Williams of Bruce Williams Homes, builders of higher-end custom properties, says he doesn't follow state trends closely but that Manatee County - and especially Lakewood Ranch - is likely to see a tripling of new home construction, from 200 a year now to 600 by 2013.

"You see a real improvement in the market in new construction and also an improvement in the absorption of resales on the market," Williams told The Bradenton Times. There are only four months worth of homes in the current inventory in Manatee County, he said. That's down from more closer to two years at the height of the sub-prime recession.

Neal is doing all he can to make Florida living affordable for these retirees. He's offering hundreds of new "cottage" and other homes for just below $111,000 and as little as 3.6 percent down with FHA financing. Some buyers may be eligible for a 6 percent discount from that price, he said.

Neal spoke with The Bradenton Times after his Canoe Creek project was approved 5-2 by the Manatee County Board of Commissioners Land Use Committee Thursday afternoon. Commissioners Joe McClash and Michael Gallen voted against the measure, with McClash calling it "sprawl."

Commissioners Chappie, DiSabatino and McClash voted no on another project proposing 68 homes that lacked the 25 percent open space required by the land development code. McClash called it a "cheap subdivision." The developer was hoping to use a failed subdivision's sewer, water and electric infrastructure but said they could not "make it work" with fewer homes and more than 15 percent open space. Commissioners said they feared creating a precedent by allowing the reduced open space in this case. The project was nonetheless approved by a vote of 4-3.

Former Realtor Robin DiSabatino, Commissioner of the 4th District, told the committee that while home sales fell last month, prices rose by $10,000 to a median of $174,000.

Neal, a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance with graduate degrees from other Ivy League schools, says that the supply of foreclosed homes that have been his main competition has now almost completely dried up.