The year ahead: More growth for county but housing costs raise fears

 

The Jupiter real estate market will continue its bull run, as housing and commercial projects in the pipeline start or complete construction.
Now, the bad: Rising housing costs will make it difficult for people moving here to find an affordable place to live. Construction might be slowed by higher land costs and spikes in labor costs, thanks to a limited supplies of skilled subcontractors. And, has been the case for several years now, there's no new office space to be had.

 

Last year was a good one for corporate deals, including the blockbuster announcement by United Technologies that it would expand its presence here with the creation of a customer showcase for its building products in Palm Beach Gardens. The project will bring 450 jobs and a capital investment of $115 million to the region.
(More buyers looking for a tight supply of homes)
               
Housing is another problem for 2016, and without a foreseeable fix.
Vitner said housing is becoming attainable only for wealthy retirees. Middle-income retirees, however, are opting for areas with less expensive housing costs, such as South Carolina.
Not only is housing becoming too expensive for many retirees, it's also expensive for regular working families as well as Millennial college graduates who want to work and live in Palm Beach County.

 

Vitner said housing affordability is even worse than it was back in the real estate boom of 2006 and 2007. That's because housing prices now have risen faster than wages.
Housing costs are up due to increased demand from a growth in the area's population, combined with a limited supply.
New homes, including single-family residences and multi-family apartments or condos, are unlikely to become less expensive in 2016. In fact, construction costs are rising due to escalating land costs and now, rising labor costs, said Jeffrey Gouveia Jr., president and general manager of Suffolk Construction's southeast region in West Palm Beach.
 
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Florida is seeing a boom in full time residents which is putting more pressure on the demand for single family homes. The demographics continue to change and this is something we haven't seen in the past. Selling a single family home in the winter was not considered a good time to market your home. The Spring had always been the prime time to sell  because this is when families with children started to look so they could move during the summer months. We are seeing more empty nester's purchasing single family homes instead of condos.

 

With the high demand for Jupiter single family homes we are seeing single family home sales strong even during their off season. One reason is many potential buyers have been renting with many not by choice. They either recently moved here and wanted to rent before buying or they moved here and couldn't find a Jupiter home so they rented. The other variable I'm seeing is more buyers nearing retirement are buying homes instead of condos. It seems many of the buyers are looking for more space than many condos offer and/or affording a condo with the space they require is above their budget. The other factor is many buyers want newer places and very few new condos are being built so a single family home is your only option.

 

We are also seeing previous homeowners who are renters not by choice but are fixing their credit and back in the market for a home again. The limited supply of rentals has caused booming rental rates making it less expensive to purchase a property than to rent it. The continued low interest rates is making that possible

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