The new home construction market is moving along at a decent clip in some parts of Brevard County, most notably Suntree, Viera and West Melbourne.
Daniel Levitan, a nationally recognized housing expert based in Plantation, said they're mostly going to people moving into Brevard and not individuals who live here and are moving up from an existing home to a newly constructed one. The price barriers to the new home market currently are just too high for meaningful activity in the latter type of movement, he said.
"What there is, is a disconnect between the pricing of resale housing and the price of new housing," Levitan said. "And, while improving, it's still a serious disconnect. And what that has done is that the new housing market then becomes dependent on new 'in-migrants' - employee transfers, retirees, whatever - for a large percentage of its business because locals can't afford to buy new housing."
A DiPrima Custom Home under construction at St. AndrewsBuy Photo
A DiPrima Custom Home under construction at St. Andrews Manor off the Pineda Causeway near Suntree. (Photo: WAYNE T. PRICE/FLORIDA TODAY)
Levitan, who studied a decade's worth of Space Coast economic and housing data, will release his findings Thursday at a meeting of the Home Builders and Contractors Association of Brevard. The meeting, which is open to the public, beings at 5:30 p.m. at 1500 W. Eau Gallie Boulevard, Melbourne.
The title of Levitan's talk will be "How to Successfully Compete with the 800 Pound Gorillas in Your Market." DiPrima Custom homes is sponsoring Levitan's visit. The "gorillas" in this case are national builders in the Brevard market that make it tougher for the local builders to compete.
Levitan serves on the board of the National Sales and Marketing Council of the National Association of Home Builders and was chairman of the organization's business management and information technology committee and its sales and marketing council. He also is a noted author and lecturer on the U.S. housing market.
For his Brevard research he analyzed permit history, employment and real estate sales.
While the price barriers from jumping from an existing home to a new home are fairly strong, Levitan doesn't see the same situation in the existing home market. There are plenty of opportunities for renters to enter the existing home market and for upward movement within the market.
The latest report from the Space Coast Association of Realtors painted a fairly brisk single-family home market. The median sales price for Brevard single family homes was up 17.2 percent in January - to $164,038 - compared to a year earlier when it was $140,000.
If you go
Topic: "How to Successfully Compete with the 800 Pound Gorillas in Your Market," a presentation to the Brevard County Home Builders and Contractors Association by nationally recognized housing expert, Daniel Levitan
Daniel Levitan, a nationally recognized housing expert based in Plantation, said they're mostly going to people moving into Brevard and not individuals who live here and are moving up from an existing home to a newly constructed one. The price barriers to the new home market currently are just too high for meaningful activity in the latter type of movement, he said.
"What there is, is a disconnect between the pricing of resale housing and the price of new housing," Levitan said. "And, while improving, it's still a serious disconnect. And what that has done is that the new housing market then becomes dependent on new 'in-migrants' - employee transfers, retirees, whatever - for a large percentage of its business because locals can't afford to buy new housing."
A DiPrima Custom Home under construction at St. AndrewsBuy Photo
A DiPrima Custom Home under construction at St. Andrews Manor off the Pineda Causeway near Suntree. (Photo: WAYNE T. PRICE/FLORIDA TODAY)
Levitan, who studied a decade's worth of Space Coast economic and housing data, will release his findings Thursday at a meeting of the Home Builders and Contractors Association of Brevard. The meeting, which is open to the public, beings at 5:30 p.m. at 1500 W. Eau Gallie Boulevard, Melbourne.
The title of Levitan's talk will be "How to Successfully Compete with the 800 Pound Gorillas in Your Market." DiPrima Custom homes is sponsoring Levitan's visit. The "gorillas" in this case are national builders in the Brevard market that make it tougher for the local builders to compete.
Levitan serves on the board of the National Sales and Marketing Council of the National Association of Home Builders and was chairman of the organization's business management and information technology committee and its sales and marketing council. He also is a noted author and lecturer on the U.S. housing market.
For his Brevard research he analyzed permit history, employment and real estate sales.
While the price barriers from jumping from an existing home to a new home are fairly strong, Levitan doesn't see the same situation in the existing home market. There are plenty of opportunities for renters to enter the existing home market and for upward movement within the market.
The latest report from the Space Coast Association of Realtors painted a fairly brisk single-family home market. The median sales price for Brevard single family homes was up 17.2 percent in January - to $164,038 - compared to a year earlier when it was $140,000.
If you go
Topic: "How to Successfully Compete with the 800 Pound Gorillas in Your Market," a presentation to the Brevard County Home Builders and Contractors Association by nationally recognized housing expert, Daniel Levitan