A recent article by Gil Smart in TC Palm noted that Port St. Lucie is the right town for millennial homebuyers.

In its 2019 ranking of “Where Millennials are Buying Homes,” the personal finance firm SmartAsset ranked PSL 10th in the nation, with a reported 53 percent of millennials who own their homes.

The city — which has actually topped the list in years past — would have ranked higher on the list but for the fact it’s long had a high rate of millennial homeownership; points were given to cities that saw big jumps.

According to the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, which covers St. Lucie County, the median sales price in Martin County was $360,000 in 2018, 60 percent higher than the Port St. Lucie median; the median in Palm Beach County was $345,000.

So what happens — and we see this in the traffic — is that people who work in those counties but can’t afford to live there buy in Port St. Lucie, which is bisected by U.S. 1, I-95 and the Florida Turnpike and makes for a (relatively) easy commute.

Prices remain so low in part because so many new homes are being built; Mayor Greg Oravec said another 50,000 “dwelling units” that are “entitled”.

“So even if there was political will to say ‘We don’t want any more development, the supply pipeline will continue for the foreseeable future,” he said.

But there are, he stresses, other reasons younger buyers flock to his city. It’s the safest large city in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; the school district’s on the rise; there’s plenty of shopping and dining and lots to do.

Bottom line, said Oravec, is “we’re a place where the American dream is alive and well.”

-Gil Smart
TCPalm.com
Entire article can be found here.