The three largest cities in south Palm Beach County raked in millions of dollars from property owners as the housing market boomed, using much of that money to pay for the needs of a growing population. (more…)
Three Florida real estate developers have submitted proposals to Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency officials for an affordable housing project. (more…)
It’s a story shared by thousands of prospective home buyers across Palm Beach County: finding an affordable place to own and live in.
In Boynton Beach alone, the numbers are staggering.
An assessment by Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center projected the city could have a shortage of 10,800 work force homes by 2025, if measures to spur building of affordable homes aren’t created.
On Tuesday, commissioners will consider giving final approval to a work force housing ordinance that would require a developer requesting higher densities to create housing that serves mostly essential, middle-class workers such as teachers and police officers who can’t afford Florida mortgages at market rates.
“There’s a need everywhere for workforce housing,” said Mayor Jerry Taylor. “The city’s being pretty proactive.”
Under the proposal, a buyer’s household income cannot exceed 120 percent of the median household income set for Palm Beach County. For a family of four, that would be $77,280.
Gerone Powell, interim executive director of the Boynton Beach Faith Based Community Development Corp., works daily with would-be home buyers who ask for Florida home mortgage help.
“In the past month, I’ve had four police officers from the city of Boynton and one from the Sheriff’s (Office) inquiring about down payment help,” he said. “Two years ago, that was unheard of.”
Developers would be required to set aside 10-20 percent of their projects for workforce housing, which could not look any different from market-rate homes. Three-quarters of those units would be available for moderate-income buyers and a quarter would be for low-income buyers.
To ensure affordability, each would have a 30-year restrictive covenant preventing the buyer from flipping the property and profiting from its market value.
However, in the case of luxury developments with a majority of home sale prices of $500,000 or more, the developer might have the option to pay into a trust. The required payment would range from $80,000-120,000 in lieu of each affordable housing unit.
While the prospect of offering more affordable Florida home loan payments to residents is good, those optional payments are too high, said Christopher Roog, director of governmental affairs for The Gold Coast Builders Association.
The group also would like to see impact fees waived for work force homes and is concerned that the costs of the market-rate homes would rise as they subsidize the workforce housing.
Even though the ordinance is voluntary - developers would be subject to it only if they ask to build at higher densities - the high costs of land force developers to build more units to make projects viable, said Vice Mayor Jose Rodriguez.
“I guarantee nobody’s going to build at those (current) density levels,” he said. “I think the ordinance is perfect for the times we’re in.”
SOURCE: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
Kellie and Mike Pilicer grabbed lawn chairs, a flashlight and a few magazines, then spent the next 13 hours waiting to buy a house.
This was a familiar scene during the go-go days of the recent housing boom when people clamored for homes and condominiums before the first shovelful of dirt was turned. Ten months into a housing slump, here we are again: a developer promising to build affordable housing, prompting more than 100 people to camp out Friday night in Boynton Beach.
The lure of prices starting at $311,900 – affordable for a new home by South Florida housing market standards — brought the Pilicers and many others to the sales office for Greystone, the new development.
The 134 houses in the first phase of Greystone, slated for a 144-acre site off Hagen Ranch Road, sold out in less than five hours Saturday, bringing in $50 million for builder G.L. Homes. The Sunrise-based company says it will deliver the first of the 552 homes by 2008, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Despite the recent downturn in the market, prices remain out of reach for many buyers. But builders catering to middle-income residents will stay plenty busy, real estate analysts say.
“Greystone is a clear indication to me that if you meet the affordability level of buyers, you’ll be a very successful builder,” Anthony Trella, a homebuilding consultant in Broward County, said. “If you marketed 10 more of these projects, they’d all sell out. There is more demand than builders can fill.”
However, most builders are accustomed to delivering homes that cost $400,000 or more. They’ll continue to suffer through a slump in new orders, which experts say could last into 2008.
G.L. Homes says it pressured contractors to keep costs down at Greystone. It’s touting the development as affordable for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other municipal workers, but many might still have trouble qualifying for Florida mortgages there.
Teachers in Palm Beach County, for example, earned an average salary of between $40,747 and $54,343 last year. In Broward, the salary range was $42,887 to $52,537.
Both existing and new home sales across S. Florida have been down this year after the five-year boom. West Palm Beach housing analyst Brad Hunter said this month that existing home sales could pick up in the next 3-6 months, but it might be as many as 18 months before new home sales rebound.
The rising costs of land and construction make it hard to build more affordable single-family homes in Palm Beach County and Broward County. To build less expensive homes, builders are delivering townhouses here or going to St. Lucie County, where land isn’t as pricey.
Builders say they aren’t surprised by the success G.L. had at Greystone.
“They marketed that community very well,” said Jason Shelley, co-owner of Shelby Homes in Fort Lauderdale. “Anybody that can produce a home within the affordable parameters hasn’t experienced a slowdown that other market segments have.”
After camping out, the Pilicers ultimately found a four-bedroom home with a two-car garage for $367,900. They plan to sell their $250,000 townhouse in Boynton Beach and use about $100,000 of the proceeds to pay down their new Florida home mortgage at Greystone.
“We’ve been looking for a larger home for eight months, but everything in our price range was either a condo or a townhome,” said Kellie Pilicer, 31, “Now we can afford a house.”
Kyle Riva is pretty confident about the market for Las Ventanas, a 15-acre retail/residential development he’s planning in Boynton Beach.
How can he be so sure in a South Florida housing market flush with high-profile projects that have been repeatedly shelved, delayed and/or repriced in the past few months? Simple. Unlike those, Las Ventanas will offer its 494 residences as apartments for lease, not as condos for sale.
“The rental market continues to be very, very strong, and several of the rental communities that existed in Delray Beach and Boynton Beach have all been [condo conversions],” said Riva, president of Epoch Properties Inc., a developer of rental communities based in Winter Park, Fla. “We see a real need for rental units in the area.”
With the current shortage of affordable housing throughout Palm Beach County, so does Lisa Bright, executive director of the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
“Not only is it going to be a huge catalyzing project for that corner, but in Boynton, we don’t have any rentals,” she said.
Meanwhile, two pieces of prime, mixed-use Florida real estate, both touted for years as key pieces of the city’s downtown redevelopment, sit idle. One of them, 500 Ocean Plaza, this month asked the city for its second one-year extension for the site plan. Initially known as the Arches back in 2003, the proposed project has yet to begin sales or construction.
Similarly, Promenade hasn’t started building and late last year canceled sales contracts and raised prices, citing soaring construction costs, the City of Boynton Beach says.
While Epoch also has asked for a 12-month site-plan extension, Riva said he expects to begin building in 6-9 months if permits come through.
Las Ventanas will boast more than 43,000 square footage of ground-floor retail space at the corner of Woolbright and Federal Highway, with 70 loft apartments situated above that. There will also be 20 three-bedroom townhouses, two five-story towers with 404 apartments, three parking garages, three pools, a community clubhouse and a fitness center.
Rents are expected to range from $1,500-3,500 a month based on the size of the unit. Real estate analysts expect the project to do well, since condo conversions have shrunk the rental inventory so dramatically and the recent uptick in Florida home mortgage rates has made loans unaffordable for many looking to buy.
“We haven’t seen hardly any new rental projects to replace them because land prices were so high,” said Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting LLC.
Today, folks facing the quadruple-whammy of escalating expenses — higher Florida mortgage borrowing costs, insurance premiums, property taxes and gas prices — might find renting an attractive option. Even at $3,500 a month, the development’s three-story, three-bedroom townhomes may be more affordable to residents, compared to many for-sale products.
