Florida Real Estate Braved The Waves

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 8th, 2010

Despite the hurricanes in 2004, Florida real estate was on fire. Pre-construction developments, commercial buildings, and home constructions dotted the coast. The lenders have a field day handing out mortgages to interested investors rushing to buy properties. Even the hurricane threat and the stigma of being a hurricane country did not stop investors of Florida real estate from backing out. What's surprising is that after every hurricane, new rebuilding projects seem to rise up from wave-washed lands.

Then Katrina came in 2005 and wiped almost everything out. Almost everybody expected the collapse of the Florida real estate bubble. But no, the Florida real estate developers faced the challenge of rebuilding the cities and coastal areas. The result? Before the year ended, Florida real estate was back and stronger than ever. It was as if Katrina never came, and healthy business backlog sustained the finance and real estate blocks making them even more active than before. The only problem developers expect to have other than the rising cost of construction is the source of their skilled laborers. Now, this is not what you would call a dead industry, is it?

It's a positive thing for Florida real estate that developers took the hurricane threat and turned it into a profitable venture. 2006 saw that other than coastal and beach front developments; developers started to develop properties within the cities. An example is the ongoing downtown Miami pre-construction trend that is touted to be a new Manhattan. Developers are also busy with many top priority projects certain to keep the state on the top of real estate choices as well to attract new businesses. Town centers were built in Palm Coasts and Orange City, while extensive "Gateway" complexes were started in Daytona Beach and Port Orange.

Other developments in Florida real estate include the building and development of properties in higher areas like the cliffs. Aside from the sea and beach view, these new properties also offer another feature which coastal units cannot match: elevation. Studies show that the high prices of real estate on the coast and hurricane scare shifted the demand and need towards inland areas that has higher locations, which are scarce on Florida coast.The developers saw a market for more elevated properties in the light of the recent hurricanes. People are getting interested in procuring higher level real estate as a precaution against typhoons and floods caused by hurricanes. The development of an experimental property called Owls' Head is touted as a test for the higher elevation market. From this vantage point, I think Florida real estate braved the waves and came out on top.