After strong growth in the past several years, the growth trajectory in Indian River is decelerating. As Figure 61 shows, the strong economy propelled employment growth above 5,200 in 2006, and population growth peaked at 2,500 in 2005.
Despite a projected peak in population growth in 2008 by more than 1,000 new jobs generated, the slowdown in residential construction and a weaker national economy account for the slow pace of growth forecasted through 2010.
In 2005, Indian River County experienced excess inventory primarily due to speculation in the market. This resulted in an excessive amount of new homes in the market, which temporarily slowed the Indian River County housing market down as shown in Figure 62.
The contraction in housing starts is illustrated in Figure 63 showing that starts peaked at 3,732 in 2005, but such a large number of starts could not be sustained in the Indian River market. This contraction is projected to stop by 2008.
Similar to the rest of Florida, Indian River’s new single-family housing market dropped in 2007, and this trend is expected to continue into 2009 as illustrated in Figure 64. The average price of an existing condominium sold is projected to be around $310,000.
Moderate Growth Gain Expected for Vero Beach Real Estate in 2008 and 2009
The market for existing homes bottomed out in 2007 with closings 3,000 units off their 2005 peak of more than 5,000 units. A moderate gain in growth is expected for 2008 and 2009. Figure 65 illustrates both units closed and average prices for the existing single-family market.
At its peak in 2004, the Indian River County market closed 500 new condominiums, however, only 100 new condominiums closed in 2007 as shown in Figure 66. In the foreseeable future, the new condominium market will either continue dropping or remain stagnate. As for average prices, these are expected to continue hovering around $450,000 through 2010.
Figure 67 shows that beginning in 2000, closing volume for existing condominiums increased, peaking at more than 800 closings in 2005. This trend, however, could not be sustained, and the market dropped in 2006. Little improvement in expected between now and 2010, as closings drop back to their historical levels.
Source: The Fund. Click here for the full report…
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