Not a lot of lots as home starts decline in Miami

A shortage of residentially zoned land in Miami is making it difficult for developers to meet demand for single-family homes.

Restrained by the Atlantic Ocean and the Urban Development Boundary, homebuilders “can’t go east and can’t go west,” Truly Burton, executive vice president and government affairs director of The Builders Associations Chapter of the Florida Atlantic Building Association, told Miami Today. “I call it a conundrum.”

“Larger builders can hang in there, but most of the smaller ones who were building 50 to 100 affordably priced homes a year are gone – either given up, retired, foreclosed upon or fighting with their banks.”

According to a report from Metrostudy, there were 2,242 home starts in the second quarter — down 8 percent from the previous quarter and 7 percent, year over year.

“There’s a constrained supply of good lots and good locations, and the pipeline of replacement lots is not keeping up with demand. Lot shortages will be an issue for the next couple of years,” David Cobb, regional director of Metrostudy South Florida, told Miami Today. [Miami Today] –Christopher Cameron