One of the nation's largest homebuilders is establishing a division in growing markets along the east coast of Florida and opening its first development in the region.
Jacksonville, Florida-based Dream Finders Homes said it is starting sales this month at Wylder in Port St. Lucie on the state's Treasure Coast. The 196 single-family homes will range in size from 1,850 to about 3,300 square feet and be priced from the $400,000s, the company said.
Dream Finders is also planning Reverie at Solaeris, a 55-and-over community in Port St. Lucie, according to the company website. It has not announced when sales will begin there.
Jon Long is president of the new division that will build from the Treasure Coast to New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Port St. Lucie is about an hour north of Palm Beach.
The Port St. Lucie metropolitan area has a population of more than 556,000 people, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census. From 2023 to 2024, the region grew by nearly 3%, ranking seventh nationwide. It draws a mix of retirees and young families who typically find it more affordable than Palm Beach County.
The new Dream Finders division also covers Florida's Brevard County and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. In recent years, private space companies such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin have created jobs in the Space Coast. That growth has boosted demand for homes.
In Florida, Dream Finders already builds in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and southwest Florida.
The publicly held company ranks as the nation's 14th-largest U.S. homebuilder based on 8,583 sales last year, according to Builder magazine. Dream Finders builds houses throughout the Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Midwest, and also operates mortgage financing and title services companies.
Last month, Dream Finders acquired Green River Builders to increase its presence in the Atlanta metropolitan area. In January, it acquired Liberty Communities, a company that builds homes in Atlanta and Greenville, South Carolina.
The deals are part of the consolidation happening in a homebuilding industry grappling with elevated mortgage rates and economic uncertainty that have hurt smaller players, analysts say.