Soaring lot prices in S. Florida drive more new houses past $1 million.

Soaring lot prices in S. Florida drive more new houses past $1 million.

It's not unusual for homes in Broward to sell for $1 million, but for the first time, new homes in Miramar and Pembroke Pines are being built for that price.The reason: Land.
"People still want the newer construction, and they'll pay more for it," said southwest Broward Realtor Natascha Tello.With so few vacant parcels left, the price of a lot has risen to 40 percent or more of a home's overall price, up from 25 percent in 2000, said real estate analyst David Dabby of the Coral Gables-based Dabby Group."This is what happened with land prices in California, and this is what is happening now in South Florida," he said.Two of every three Broward cities had at least one home sell for $1 million or more in 2005, according to sales data from the property appraiser's office.Although real estate analysts say they expect the number of such sales to continue growing, Broward isn't only for the well-to-do.Twenty-seven of the 31 cities had single-family homes selling for $200,000 or less, the sales data show.Municipalities not having $1-million-plus home sales in 2005 were Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Tamarac, Sunrise, Margate, North Lauderdale, Pembroke Park and the newly incorporated West Park.Combined, these cities accounted for 41 percent of the total sales last year of homes costing $200,000 or less. Homes under $200,000 are considered a bargain in a county with a median home price of $360,800. The median is the midpoint where half the homes sell for more and half for less.Missing from the list of cities with cheaper homes were the mainly beachfront communities of Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Sea Ranch Lakes.Absent from both lists was the tiny town of Lazy Lake, a two-street enclave surrounded by Wilton Manors.Million-dollar homes in Pembroke Pines and Miramar would have been unheard of just a few years ago, before double-digit appreciation caused home prices to skyrocket.Yet at Sunset Falls in western Miramar, 18 buyers so far have plunked down $1 million or more for new houses by Sunrise-based builder GL Homes.The subdivision includes 491 houses around a 375-acre lake, which is among the county's largest. Just over half the homes have been sold, with prices starting around $600,000, according to project manager Dean Andreozzi.Rooz Eslahi, 28, a licensed real estate agent, is buying a five-bedroom house in Sunset Falls. He lives in nearby Silver Isles in a home he bought a little more than four years ago."The bottom line today is if you want to be in west Miramar, which is so up and coming, and you want a brand new home, this is where you can go," said Eslahi, who lives with his 16-year-old brother.GL Homes first built in southwest Broward in 1991, in Silver Lakes. At that time, new homes sold for about $99,000. Today, premium lakefront lots at Sunset Falls cost as much as $225,000, not counting the cost of the house.Pembroke Pines recently rezoned the 123-acre Raintree Golf Course for a gated community of 103 homes on half-acre lots that will sell for at least $1 million each.Construction could begin next year and take about two years to complete, said Fort Lauderdale attorney Dennis Mele, who is representing the owner."We just think it's a very desirable area to build, and that's why we're there," Mele said.