by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
As he has for the past several years, veteran market analyst Charlie Clark predicts a great year ahead for the real estate industry in North Florida during the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council’s breakfast meeting at the University Center at University of North Florida.
“I started out last year’s presentation by saying ‘Wow, what a year!’, but this year is different,” said Clark. “Next year is probably going to be bigger and better. Business this past year is about as good as you are going to get.”
Clark gave kudos to Jacksonville for a great Super Bowl show, which he predicts will have an immense impact on the area.
“Eight hundred million people saw this city and everyone in this room will benefit from the Super Bowl for years and years to come,” he said.
Clark said that one of the reasons business is so good in Jacksonville is that the prices look cheap to those in other parts of the country.
He discussed the recent drop in interest rates from 5.67 percent to 5.57 percent and said that he predicts they should stay that low for the next two quarters.
Clark gave his overview of the national economic situation and then zeroed in on Jacksonville.
“If you were to name the top 10 places in the United States to be in the building, real estate or development business, you would have to include Northeast Florida,” he said.
He said there were 12,250 starts last year and 11,552 closes.
“There is no inventory; the market is very strong,” said Clark.
He pointed to a strong price increase in homes in St. Johns and Clay Counties.
“I don’t think people have yet to feel the impact of what is going on in Cecil Field and the things that are going to happen out there,” he said.
Of all the homes for sale in Jacksonville, Clark said townhouses are still quite reasonably priced.
Clark said single family home prices between $100,000 and $149,000 have dropped, single family home prices between $150,000 and $199,000 have increased and $200,000 plus homes have seen a very significant increase.
“The meat of the market is still the $150,000 product,” he said.
At the end of the quarter last year, Clark’s company surveyed 1,900 communities and found almost 6,000 under construction.
“In conclusion, I see the next 12 months doing quite well,” he said. “One of the things we are dealing with daily is the price of land. Land is going to be a constant problem for the developers. The cost is going up daily. Availability of land is getting tough and affordability is a challenge.”