ORLANDO, FL - Metro Orlando's new-home inventory fell by 1,100 units during the first quarter, as builders continued to cut back on housing starts during the ongoing market slump, a new report out Tuesday shows. Despite the reduction, the number of unsold new homes remains too high given the current demand, said Anthony Crocco, director of the Central Florida division for Metro- Study, a Houston-based research and consulting company that tracks residential development. "The extremely high percentage of finished-but-vacant housing inventory, more than a four-month supply, remains an issue," Crocco said in his report.
Three of the four busiest production-home subdivisions or communities during the past year are in Orange County: Avalon Park in east Orange, with 250 starts during the 12 months that ended March 31; Berkshire Park near Windermere, with 184 starts; and Baldwin Park in northeast Orlando, with 130. Lakes of Mount Dora in Lake County was ranked third with 161 starts.
The number of new homes started during the quarter in the four-county Metro Orlando area; Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake was down by more than half from the same quarter a year ago. But the number of finished but vacant homes fell by less than a third, and the number of new-home closings, or move-ins, was off by 48 percent. MetroStudy's survey focuses on single-family homes in subdivisions only and does not count custom homes or multifamily developments.
From 2004 to 2006, when homes were selling fast, the number of model homes dwindled as builders did not need as many to market and promote a particular development or floor plan. But for more than a year now, the number of models being built for display, and for eventual sale, has increased sharply.
Builders in the four-county Metro Orlando area continued to prepare raw land for more homes, according to MetroStudy. During the first quarter, 1,833 lots were delivered, compared with 7,659 lots in the first quarter of 2007, a 76.1 percent drop. Based on the sluggish rate of housing starts, the first-quarter inventory of developed-but-vacant lots represents a supply of more than 62 months, up from a supply of about 29 months a year earlier.
Source: Orlando Sentinel