The promised wave of new homes in St. Johns County is here.
Realtors were barraged this fall by marketing from large-scale communities all launching at roughly the same time.
• RiverTown, a 4,950-home community on the St. Johns River south of Fruit Cove, held a sales event last month for its new neighborhood, The Landings at RiverTown. The larger community relaunch has been moved to early 2017.
• Shearwater, a 2,600-home community along County Road 210, held a dusty-shoe opening for Realtors in early November. An amenity center is nearing completion as are models from the community’s four builders.
• TrailMark, a 2,278-home community west of World Golf Village, just two weeks earlier held a Realtor grand opening of D.R. Horton’s new model. Home sales have begun and an amenity center is scheduled for completion in the summer.
• Markland, a 345-home community on International Golf Parkway, just east of the Interstate 95 interchange, held its Realtor introductory event. Models by the community’s six builders are under construction.
Following years of lean times, a building rebound is welcome. But do the new communities signal a return to the over-exuberant boom years?
Markland’s Walt O’Shea said no. The developments are replacing other projects that are now finishing — Durbin Crossing, Murabella and St. Johns Forest. Even World Golf Village and Palencia are entering their final stages.
“We need them. We need someone to step up,” O’Shea said.
Construction still hangs far below the 2005 levels. Demand in St. Johns is producing 2,000 to 2,500 new-home permits a year.
“Even with Nocatee absorbing half of that, it still means 1,000, or even 1,500, more homes are needed,” O’Shea said.
Anthony Crocco, of market analyst Metrostudy, in September warned that unless builders boosted production, there would soon be a shortage of new homes.
Household formation in Northeast Florida now outpaces homebuilding and excess inventory created during the recession has been absorbed.
Developers are feeling the effects of low inventory.
“We’ve already seen a slowdown in northwest St. Johns County,” said Jason Sessions, general manager of RiverTown. “Aberdeen, Durbin Crossing and others are running out of lots and sales are slowing tremendously.”
The new communities in St. Johns will overlap somewhat in product, but each also offers something a little different.
Markland will have master-planned living with convenient access to an interstate highway.
RiverTown will have the riverfront and 5,000 acres to build on, large enough to create a lifestyle.
Shearwater will be the next master-planned community on County Road 210, the epicenter for new homebuilding.
Andrew Smith of Shearwater said the simultaneous launch of other communities is welcome.
“We hope they do well,” he said. “It’s like having five car dealerships on the same road. Activity breeds activity.”
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