Florida Leads U.S. in Housing Unit Increase
Florida had the highest increase in the number of housing units of any state last year, adding upwards of 200,000 new dwellings, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
The data underscores population shifts as U.S. residents increasingly move south, west and to Sunbelt states. Florida had the most new homes built, closely followed by California and Texas, from July 2004 to July 2005.
“It’s a reflection of the demographic shift,” said Robert Bernstein of the Census Bureau, noting that the South and West dominate housing growth as well as population growth.
Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Orange and Lee counties all ranked within the top 15 in the U.S. terms of housing growth by total units.
In California, many of the new houses were built in Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County.
The report defines a housing unit as a house, an apartment, a mobile home or trailer, a group of rooms or a single room occupied as separate living quarters. It comprises the mercurial condo market as well as single-family home units. The estimates are based on 2000 Census figures supplemented by administrative records, such as building permits.
Low Florida mortgage rates, economic opportunity, warm weather and abundant land in inland regions have helped keep demand for housing relatively high in many areas of the Sunshine State. For all the talk of Florida home loan rates rising, they are still at historic lows, and as long as employment opportunities grow, people are coming to take jobs.
Both the rates of population and housing growth in the state are up about 1.5 percent over the previous year. That is but one piece of evidence to show that builders, wary of repeating a housing implosion that ravaged Florida real estate during the early 1990s, are striving to calibrate housing supply to population growth.
In order to sustain prices and development, builders are now being careful not to oversupply the market with housing stock. As Florida home mortgage costs come down a little from their spring peak, and sellers are willing to negotiate in order to move their properties, a lot of the excess inventory should be absorbed and a return to normalcy should ensue.
The Top 15 U.S. counties for growth in housing units:
1. Maricopa, Ariz. — 52,203
2. Clark, Nev. — 35,114
3. Harris, Texas — 33,698
4. Riverside, Calif. — 29,689
5. Miami-Dade, Fla. — 21,375
6. Los Angeles, Calif. — 19,950
7. Lee, Fla. — 19,894
8. San Bernardino, Calif. — 17,032
9. Tarrant, Texas — 16,281
10. Fulton, Ga. — 15,374
11. Orange, Fla. — 14,003
12. San Diego, Calif. — 13,964
13. Palm Beach, Fla. — 13,777
14. Hillsborough, Fla. — 13,086
15. Bexar, Texas — 12,333
16. Sacramento, Calif — 11,951
