New construction is fueling Broward Countyâs growing property values, which reached an all-time high this year, according to new preliminary 2017 values released Friday by the Property Appraiserâs Office.
The new figures will be used by local governments to set their tax rates and budgets for the coming year. (Click here to see the latest property value figures for the county and local cities.)
Leading Broward cities in new construction this year were Hollywood and Dania Beach, reaping the windfall of FPLâs new $1.2 billion âclean energyâ plant in their portion of Port Everglades that was added to the tax rolls this year.
But right behind those cities were two that have been consistently near the top of the countyâs new construction list in recent years: Fort Lauderdale and Parkland. Theyâre the only two Broward cities to be in the top five when it comes to new construction in each of the past six years. And they couldnât be more different.
Fort Lauderdale is the county seat with a booming downtown and an upscale beach that are attracting substantial high-rise and redevelopment projects. Parkland, with its 30,000 population thatâs a sixth of the size of Fort Lauderdale on the countyâs northwestern fringe, doesnât have a beach or a downtown.
What Parkland does have is vacant land to build on, something thatâs a rarity in the rest of the county. In recent years, the suburban community has been annexing for development portions of the Wedge, a nearly 2,000-acre triangle of vacant land that was transferred from Palm Beach County to Broward in 2009.
âDevelopers are purchasing large agricultural parcels in Parkland and developing them into single-family home communities,â Property Appraiser Marty Kiar said.
Major builders there include Lennar, Toll Brothers and CalAtlantic Homes. The projects include the Parkland Golf and Country Club, Watercress, Mira Lago, Heron Bay and Parkland Bay. Construction in the city was largely responsible for a 52 percent increase in the number of Broward homes started during the first three months of this year.
âThat land that came in is highly desirable as so many people want to be in Northwest Broward and Parkland,â said Broward Commissioner Michael Udine, a former mayor of the city. âThey love our open space, great schools and family-friendly environment. People are moving from within Broward and many from out of state.â
The new figures released Friday put Browardâs new construction this year at $2.4 billion, which was $111 million more than the amount listed in the initial report that came out in May. The countyâs overall taxable value came in at $177.3 billion, up $17 million from the May report.
Existing property values in the county are up 7.8 percent from a year ago, while the increase is 9.3 percent when new construction is included. For property owners, higher values signal a growing return on the investment they made, but they can also mean higher taxes to be paid.
Miami-Dade County is reporting an overall taxable value of $272.4 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent, with $8.2 billion in new construction. In Palm Beach County, property values reached $176.8 billion, a 7.3 percent increase, with new construction totaling 2.7 billion.
Among Broward cities, overall totals show Dania Beach leading the county with a 20.7 percent increase in property values and Hollywood second with a 15.6 percent increase. Fort Lauderdale values are up 9.3 percent, Pompano Beach 9.2 percent, Pembroke Pines 8.6 percent, Miramar 7.7 percent and Coral Springs 7.4 percent.
Source: SunSentinel