Dive Brief:
-
Miami-based homebuilder Lennar Corp. has purchased 38 vacant acres bordering Disney World for $7.35 million, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
- The land is also located next to the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge, a popular public golf resort
- And it sits between two existing Lennar developments: Summer Lake, an $80 million, 300-home master planned community in Winter Garden, FL, and Storey Grove, also in Winter Garden, which will have more than 800 homes when completed.
Dive Insight:
The Florida construction market is booming. In a recent analysis of the top-25 for-sale housing markets from 2011 to 2015 based on single family permitting, real estate advisory firm RCLCO ranked the Orlando, FL, metro area No. 1, followed by Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami among the top 12.
Based in Miami, Lennar, the country's second-largest homebuilder, announced last month that it plans to acquire Florida-based homebuilder WCI communities. The $643 million deal will add 14,200 home sites in some of the state's most active markets to Lennar's holdings.
Lennar’s current business dealings position it to cash in on Florida’s high demand for housing from seniors as well as younger, first-time buyers. Millennials are concentrating in communities where there are colleges and universities, according to RCLCO, and are also looking at metros including Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, where populations of that generational cohort are expected to increase in the next two decades.
Other developers are following targeting Florida, too. D.R. Horton is focusing on seniors with its Freedom Homes brand, which launched in Houston with more markets in Texas, Florida and Arizona to follow. GL Homes is nearly finished with a 455-home development near Delray, FL, and is the most active builder in Palm Beach County so far this year. Meanwhile, Minto Communities this spring announced plans for active-adult communities in Naples, FL, Daytona Beach, FL, and Palm Beach, FL, with 17,900 new lots and 4.2 million square feet of commercial space, according to Builder.