While recent years have been difficult for South Florida builders, 2013 ended on a positive note. 2013 was the best year that South Florida builders have seen since 2006, with 2013 seeing a five percent increase in new home construction when compared to 2012. Although the region is only about halfway back to what was considered to be “average” prior to the housing bubble burst, real estate experts are predicting a 20 percent increase in new home construction for 2014.
Despite a slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2013 that resulted in 20 percent fewer homes constructed than, in the previous quarter, the pace of construction for the fourth quarter of 2013 was still 4.7 percent higher than it was in 2012. Palm Beach County had a particularly good year, with real estate experts singling it out as a “model of stability” in South Florida. In Palm Beach County, there was very little variation from one quarter to the next in terms of the number of new home starts and completions. Vacant inventory also remains in the healthy range, in Palm Beach County, with 1.6 months-of-supply. This figure dipped to a low of just 1.3 during the second quarter of 2013.