Land Sales Market May Be Limited This Year Despite Strong Demand, Grubb Study Finds

ORLANDO-Real estate development is always driven by the the supply-and-demand factor but this time around, the demand remains strong while the supply of quality land is going to be lean in Central Florida this year, a new analysis by the Orlando office of Grubb & Ellis Co. shows.

Growth management efforts at the state, county and city levels are placing some locations out of the development arena in 2001. Continued multifamily construction, over and above the annual absorption numbers, is depleting available development sites. And several office and industrial developers already control large banks of dirt, waiting for the right marketing timing to break ground on new projects.

That’s the gist of Grubb & Ellis’ findings. Whatever quality sites will be found in 2001 will come at a premium, Grubb land specialist Keith Ray tells GlobeSt.com. Retail land sales, for instance, “are being skewed by the large number of retail out-parcel sales and tourist-related retail parcels that command premium prices,” Ray says.