Switch from houses to fuel condo boom

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Switch from houses to fuel condo boom By Linda Rawls Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, January 13, 2006 ORLANDO - Tired of that long commute? Want to spend more time with family and friends? You could be living in a condominium soon. The chances are 50/50 that you'll trade your single-family home for a condo in the coming years, a major Palm Beach County developer told the International Builders Show on Thursday. Get the latest on real estate trends, costs, problems in South Florida in The Post's occasional series. NOV. 13, 2005 How much house can a family afford? In South Florida, with prices outstripping income, the answer may be "not much." . Maryland's low-cost homes . Wilma magnifies problems . A look at the numbers . Behind the Housing Boom "Today's generation of workers are focused on family and social activities," said Jerry Starkey, president of WCI Communities, based in Bonita Springs. "In suburban communities, it's not uncommon to spend 1 1/2 hours each way commuting to work. That's destroying the quality of life." To get out of that long commute, people are moving back to urban areas, Starkey said. Another multifamily expert agreed. "If there's any way they can walk to the office, they'd rather do that," said Robert Koch, principal and director of Fugleberg Koch Architects of Orlando. "They don't want to live here and shop there and work over there." The demand for condos also is increasing because of that demographic bulge, the Baby Boomers. There are 78 million people between the ages of 41 and 60, Starkey said, with as many as 3 million turning 50 every year. "They're in their peak earning years, they're going to inherit $1 trillion from parents and grandparents in the next decade and they're out there buying homes," he said. Growth is focused back to the urban core, Starkey said, "which is driving the price of land through the roof because urban land is scarce." With land costs so high, the only way to build affordable homes is to go vertical, he said. "We're going to end up with a 50/50 mix of multifamily and single-family (homes), which is a significant departure from past trends," he said. To understand just how significant, consider this: In 2004, the ratio of condo sales to single-family homes was about 1-to-7, according to the annual U.S. Census housing survey. Of all homes nationwide, there are 15 single-family houses to every condominium. It's not just weary commuters who crave condos, though. Workers nearing retirement also find them attractive. Nearly half of all people between the ages of 59 and 70 intend to move when they retire, according to a survey taken last year by Del Webb, which builds communities for "active adults." The main reason they're moving: They want a home with less maintenance. Condos used to be an affordable alternative to high-priced single-family homes. That's no longer true. WCI Communities has built at least $15 billion worth of condos, Starkey said, mostly expensive ones in South Florida. Its projects in Palm Beach County include One Watermark Place in West Palm Beach, where condos sell for upward of $3 million. Coldwell Bankers' recent survey of condo prices nationwide ranks Miami as the 10th most expensive condo market for the third quarter of last year, with an average price of $443,750.