The Bridge housing development while under construction
New model homes at the Bridges, a 600-unit development near Delray Beach, have brought in 18 new sales contracts for developer GL Homes, the Sun Sentinel reported. Sales prices averaged $800,000 on the transactions for an estimated total of $14 million. GL now has contracts on 121 of the project’s units. “Interest is definitely coming back,” Marcie DePlaza, division president for GL, said. [more]
South Florida home builders are increasingly designing homes with distinct living quarters and sometimes even separate kitchenettes and entrances to accommodate the growing demand for multi-generational housing, the Sun Sentinel reported. Pulte Homes and GL Homes have had success building the homes in Palm Beach County, while Toll Brothers has brought the concept to Broward County and Lennar is on the verge of building such homes in Miami-Dade County. [more]
A Toll Brothers home in Jupiter
Construction of new homes in Palm Beach County could rise up to 20 percent this year, the Sun Sentinel reported. That number, which comes from research firm Metrostudy, would mark an increase over the 949 homes started in 2011. “People are more optimistic and ready to buy,” said Brad Hunter, the South Florida director at Metrostudy. [more]
Builder GL Homes has plans to break ground on a 656-home community on 300 acres west of Delray Beach this fall, despite less-than-optimistic housing reports for the region in recent months. According to the Sun Sentinel, the development, which is to be called the Bridges, will have homes ranging in price from $500,000 to over $1.5 million, and GL is hoping that young families, international buyers and empty nesters will be the likely takers. GL has sold 400 homes so far this year, 250 of which were in southern Palm Beach County. Marcie DePlaza, GL’s division president in the area, said she’s been getting a flurry of inquiries about new projects from prospective buyers, which “gives us the confidence we need to pull the trigger.” [more]
Boynton Beach’s Canyon Isles neighborhood, a GL Homes community of 500 homes, has nearly 67 in foreclosure, or more than one in eight, according to property information company CoreLogic. Closings in Canyon Isles began in 2005, with larger homes selling for more than $1 million though 2007, with 33 homes purchased for at least $1 million. The median sale price last year in the neighborhood was $385,000 a 45.2 percent drop from the 2007 median price of $702,287.
Builder GL Homes has opened a $7 million clubhouse at its Valencia Reserve development west of Boynton Beach, although it has sold less than half of the homes there in the past two years. Around 600 people came to celebrate the clubhouse’s opening, along with GL founder Itchko Ezratti. The move to complete the clubhouse is likely one of reassurance, said Brad Hunter, head of research firm Metrostudy’s South Florida office. “Consumers want to be reassured that amenities that were promised will actually materialize,” Hunter said.
Sunrise-based GL Homes is starting sales July 17 at its newest
development, Canyon Trails, near Boynton Beach. The 579-home development
is the company’s fourth Canyon development in the area. GL is targeting
families and so-called “move-up” buyers, with homes ranging in price
from $260,000 to $400,000. According to Metrostudy, a research firm, GL
is the busiest builder in Palm Beach and Broward County. The company has
led a wave
of development in the western suburbs of Boynton Beach. [Sun
Sentinel]
Mountain Real Estate Capital, a Charlotte, N.C.-based equity investment group, has teamed up with South Florida home builder GL Homes to develop 6,500 home sites in towns across the southern portion of the state, including West Palm Beach and Naples. The $75 million joint venture will affect over 8,300 acres across South Florida over the course of eight to 10 years. The two companies said they expect the project to have a sellout value of around $1.8 billion after all the sites find buyers. Despite the unfortunate hits that the Florida real estate market has taken since the financial downturn, Peter Fioretti, chief executive with Mountain, said that he’s confident in the joint venture. “We have always admired [GL Homes'] ability to identify and meet the changing needs of homeowners, especially during challenging times such as these,” Fioretti said. [SFBJ]
Home sales in Boynton Beach’s western suburbs have been driving its
emergence from the downturn, with homes built by GL Homes leading the
charge. The Sunrise-based builder has been bolstering the residential market in Broward and Palm Beach counties, even topping Miami-based Lennar. Four of the top five residential sales in Boynton Beach last quarter
were GL Homes properties, according to data from Condo Vultures. (To
see a list of the five top Boynton sales, click here.) “A lot of the good, stable properties are starting to rebound,” said realtor David Podgursky of Boca Executive Realty.
[more]
Boynton’s top five residential sales for the first quarter were led by the sale of the 4,753-square-foot property at 10747 Pine Tree Terrace for $1.2 million, or $262.41 per square foot, according to MLS data compiled by Condo Vultures (see the top five sales after the jump). The property is located at the Pine Tree Golf Club. Four of the top five homes on the list were in GL Homes communities, with the two properties each selling for more than $900,000 — 9669 Equus Circle, within the Equus development, sold for $975,000, and 9801 Equus Circle sold for $935,0000. [more]
