Florida\u2019s housing market continues to attract demand, but that demand is no longer moving evenly across regions or buyer types.<\/p>\n
People still want to live in Florida, yet many local homeowners are effectively locked in place, unable to move within their own counties as higher interest rates and pricing resets squeeze resale mobility.<\/p>\n
That disconnect between desire and ability has quietly reshaped how builders think about risk.<\/p>\n
For privately held companies focused on long-term value rather than quarterly volume, product strategy has become less about waiting for conditions to normalize and more about designing around how the market is actually behaving.<\/p>\n
Patty Campbell, division president for GL Homes\u2019 West Coast Division, said the company has responded by steering a larger share of its West Coast pipeline toward active adult communities.<\/p>\n
For GL Homes, the shift is not a demographic bet or a branding play.<\/p>\n
It reflects how buyers behave when borrowing costs rise, local sellers stay put and out-of-state demand becomes the primary source of movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually switched two family communities to 55-plus communities on the West Coast in the last two years,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWith interest rates so high and the market\u2019s slower than it had been, we find the active adult is less risky.\u201d<\/p>\n
A builder\u2019s philosophy shaped by market whiplash<\/p>\n
Campbell\u2019s philosophy was not shaped within a single housing cycle. It formed across industries, recessions and expansions long before she ever ran a Florida division.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Fort Lauderdale, I went to FSU,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cMy first job out of college was at Alamo Rent-a-Car, and I worked there for about 17 or 18 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 9\/11, she said Alamo filed for bankruptcy and she moved to Burger King\u2019s corporate headquarters in Miami, where she worked on the company\u2019s sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked on the sale of Burger King to Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital and Texas Pacific Group,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
She joined GL Homes in 2003 and moved west the following year as the company expanded beyond South Florida.<\/p>\n
READ: TAMPA BAY BUSINESS NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey were getting ready to expand the company to the West Coast of Florida, and they were looking for a division president,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cSo I moved over here in 2004 to create the West Coast Division for GL Homes.\u201d<\/p>\n That move placed her at the center of Florida\u2019s most volatile modern housing years, overseeing territory from Tampa to Naples as the state cycled through boom, collapse and recovery.<\/p>\n She described the 2007 and 2008 crash as uniquely severe in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of inventory, a lot of speculation sales, a lot of investors,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n She contrasted that period with the surge that followed the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cCovid was insanity,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cAnything we had, we could sell with our eyes closed.\u201d<\/p>\n Why GL is leaning into 55+ communities<\/p>\n GL Homes is not abandoning all-ages communities, but its West Coast mix has tilted more heavily toward active adult than it typically would.<\/p>\n \u201cUsually it\u2019s fifty-fifty,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cBut with me moving two communities into active adult on this coast, we\u2019re probably a higher percentage of active adults right now.\u201d<\/p>\n She tied that adjustment directly to interest rates and the way higher borrowing costs have frozen local resale markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re finding in a lot of communities across Florida is the market within the county is stagnant,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cPeople can\u2019t move, so nothing\u2019s moving.\u201d<\/p>\n That stagnation sidelines local move-up buyers, leaving out-of-state buyers as the primary source of activity.<\/p>\n READ: TAMPA BAY REAL ESTATE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAll we\u2019re focusing mostly on are out-of-state buyers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Since Covid, she said the buyer pool on Florida\u2019s west coast has broadened dramatically.<\/p>\n \u201cSince Covid, my communities on the West Coast have buyers from all 50 states,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got buyers from Texas, from California, from everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell acknowledged pressures such as rising insurance costs but said the broader migration pull remains intact.<\/p>\n \u201cHave we had some challenges over the last couple of years with insurance getting a little high?\u201d she said. \u201cSure. But I still think Florida is the best place to invest.<\/p>\n Why Tampa keeps pulling buyers<\/p>\n Campbell said Tampa\u2019s growth is driven less by lifestyle appeal and more by something harder to replicate: employment density.<\/p>\n \u201cTampa has jobs,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cNaples has no jobs. Fort Myers doesn\u2019t really have any jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n She pointed to the region\u2019s military presence, corporate base and professional sports ecosystem as stabilizing forces.<\/p>\n READ: TAMPA RETAIL & HOSPITALITY NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got the Air Force base, corporations, all sports teams,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just got jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n That employment base reinforces a familiar housing pattern.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to live by their kids,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIf your kids live in Tampa because they got a job in Tampa, you go to Tampa.\u201d<\/p>\n Company scale and the Valencia footprint<\/p>\n GL Homes is one of Florida\u2019s largest privately held homebuilders, with annual revenue typically ranging from about $1.5 billion to more than $2 billion depending on the life cycle of its communities, Campbell said.<\/p>\n Sales volume fluctuates year to year based on openings and closings, but the company consistently ranks among the state\u2019s most active builders, even in slower markets.<\/p>\n Campbell said GL Homes employs about 580 people statewide, with women holding roughly half of leadership and management roles.<\/p>\n READ: DOWNTOWN TAMPA DEVELOPMENT & REAL ESTATE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n Much of GL Homes\u2019 active adult strategy is anchored by its Valencia-branded communities, one of several product lines the company develops statewide, which now operate across five major Florida markets: Tampa, Naples, Fort Myers, Port St. Lucie and Boynton Beach.<\/p>\n Home prices across Valencia communities generally range from the $300,000s to more than $2.5 million, depending on location, lot size and home design.<\/p>\n Campbell said the goal is not uniformity, but repeatable quality.<\/p>\n Each Valencia reflects its market, while the company applies the same discipline around pricing, amenities and long-term community value.<\/p>\n The GL Homes difference, in Campbell\u2019s words<\/p>\n Campbell said GL Homes has built its reputation by resisting short-term pricing tactics that often surface when markets soften.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re typically higher priced, and we can get it because buyers see the value,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said the company avoids aggressive discounting because it erodes trust and damages long-term resale value.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not the builder where you buy a house and a week later someone else gets a totally different price,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWe don\u2019t do that. We maintain the integrity of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell said the company also sees strong repeat and referral buying, which she views as the clearest signal of long-term trust.<\/p>\n