Master-planned community developers are adjusting to South Floridians' concerns over affordability as they're pushed up and out amid its high-profile wealth boom.

Developers are expecting sales to slow as elevated mortgage rates and macroeconomic pressures limit South Floridians’ ability to afford a home, they said at Bisnow's Florida Master-Planned Community Summit.

"When we think about affordability, we think about it in monthly payment: mortgage, insurance, CDD, HOA, utilities," Meritage Homes Division President Jon Isherwood said onstage at the Marriott West Palm Beach on Tuesday. "It's that entire bundle that really matters, and the reality is $150 or $200 a month today can be the difference between qualifying or not qualifying."

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.7% last week, according to Freddie Mac. That's the highest level in more than a year and the fifth week in a row that the average rose.

Mortgage rates have remained elevated since they first started to climb from historic lows in 2022, which has hit the for-sale housing market especially hard.

Newly built homes haven't escaped the pressure. New home sales, which had a rough start to the year, were 5.6% below June 2025 levels in July, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Inventory has increased 3% to roughly 9.3 months, and the median sales price, $398,300, is 6% below June levels.

While elevated mortgage rates are putting downward pressure on national sales and prices, South Florida home prices are on the rise amid an influx of wealthy individuals seeking to escape proposed wealth taxes in California and Washington state and a pied-à-terre tax on second luxury homes in New York.

Median single-family sales prices rose nearly 12% in Palm Beach County, nearly 4% in Miami-Dade County and 2% in Broward County as of June, according to Miami Realtors + RWorld. It's a harsh market for potential buyers, especially in areas like Miami-Dade County, where more than 50% of its residents are living paycheck to paycheck.

"The barrier to entry is as high as it's ever been in South Florida," PulteGroup Vice President of Land Acquisition Andrew Maxey said. "It's only getting higher."

To combat those challenges and keep homes selling, homebuilders are expanding the options available to prospective buyers.

Some homebuilders, like Meritage Homes, are offering lower 30-year mortgages at 4.9%, Isherwood said.

Or they're offering builder financing, which was popular at Meritage's Terra Lago master-planned community in Indiantown, Florida — just northwest of West Palm Beach — where 80% of buyers chose to utilize it, Isherwood said.

"The homebuilding industry at large is utilizing forward commitments and rate buydowns heavily," he said.

They are also pivoting toward high-engagement but low-maintenance amenities that will keep HOA fees down, like nature walking trails, parks and event lawns that can host Friday night food trucks or yoga on the weekend, Isherwood said.

While developers are getting creative with ways to sell homes, it would be easier to build affordable housing with state backing, especially for a master-planned community, which can be a 10- to 15-year commitment to constant capital spending.

The state legislature has targeted the region's growing affordability crisis, passing legislation like the Live Local Act, providing developers tax breaks and the ability to override local zoning rules as long as they dedicate at least 40% of apartment projects to units affordable to those making 120% of the area median income.

But unlike Live Local, which targets Florida renters, there isn't as much incentive for homebuilding, Maxey said.

So developers have to find their own savings. That includes approaching insurance companies to provide bulk insurance for an entire community's house or car coverage, said Nick Casalanguida, whose company, Barron Colliers Cos., manages a handful of master-planned communities for homebuilders across Florida, including the Ave Maria, a 5,000-acre community in Collier County.

"If we partner with some national firms and say, 'OK, all of Ave Maria is going to be under X insurance brand. You don't have to, but if you do, you get this discount,' and that passes on to the builder," Casalanguida said.

In South Florida, it's even harder to build with the scarcity of land and heightened competition, making projects smaller.

Palm Beach County commissioners approved PulteGroup's plans for a 70-townhome project on a 10-acre parcel in Boynton Beach, expected to sell for about $500K, significantly smaller than the 145-home Amara project it's building in Lake Worth.

"We need more for-sale housing in our community," Maxey said. "Until we fix that, we've got a long way to go."