Can You Condo? Strategic Analysis for Design Professionals Evaluating the Risks and Opportunities of Condominium Projects

摘要

As a sector, condominiums have not presented a successful business model. Condominiums built in the 1970s and 1980s have had more claims per project and larger claims than any other sector of the construction industry. In fact, all other sectors would represent a very distant second place to the litigation frenzy which has surrounded condominiums. Almost solely as a result of this experience, new condominium projects almost completely disappeared from many geographic regions during the 1990s. The condominium sector is clearly no longer dormant. "They're Back!" Client, economic, and social demands appear to have reawakened the sector with a white-hot intensity. The demand is not really difficult to understand. Limited available land in desirable areas, rapidly rising real estate prices, and the perpetual lure of the potential profits from "mass produced" units are all fueling the frenzy. For example, in California new housing production has lagged behind demand for sixteen consecutive years, and only sixteen percent of households can afford to buy the median-priced home.