- April 25, 2024
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Despite the pandemic, new home construction is booming in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach.
The 154 permits issued in August was the most in a month in about 15 years, according to Palm Coast Chief Development Officer Jason DeLorenzo.
“We’re building a lot of houses,” he said. “People are still moving here.”
Meanwhile, in Flagler Beach, Rick McFadden remembers that there was just one home under construction when he was first hired by the city nine years ago. Today, the chief building official who is doubling as interim city manager said there are 40 homes under construction.
“Flagler Beach is a wonderful place to be, and people are knocking down the doors to get in,” McFadden said on WNZF’s “Free For All Friday,” Sept. 18.
Jay Curbow, president of Blue Water Homes, said his company typically builds custom homes, but many of his recent clients are retiring early and want a new home now, rather than going through the process of design. As a result, Curbow has shifted his business to more spec homes, or houses built without a contract yet, to speed up the process. In the next 12 months, Blue Water Homes will build more spec homes than it did in the previous 24.
"It's pretty exciting," he said. "We all expected things were going to slow down because of the coronavirus, and that didn't happen."
A new model for Blue Water Homes is under construction at 6 La Mancha Drive.
Permits of all types are also holding steady in Palm Coast, with about 300 per month throughout the year, regardless of the pandemic.
DeLorenzo said applications for permits for duplexes are more popular than they used to be, as well.
“Five years ago, there were zero,” he said. But since Sept. 1, 2020, there have been five duplex permits.
Meanwhile, in the Daytona Beach area, the median sale price of $270,000 was 7% higher than a year before, according to a press release from Wyse Home Team Realty.
Inventory in the Daytona Beach area was down 29%, however, with 1,640 homes active during August, compared with 2,322 last August.
