A group of local property owners wants approval from the City of Sanford for a new townhome community on mostly vacant land next to Idyllwilde Elementary School.
Plans submitted to the city by Boyd Civil Engineering call for 92 townhomes on 24-foot-wide lots at 500 Vilhen Rd. A site plan indicates that about a third of the 16.74-acre property would be set aside as open space, with a reserve for stormwater management on the western side of the property. It’s not yet clear who the homebuilder would be.
The land is in unincorporated Seminole County, but the property owners want to annex the property into the City of Sanford. The ownership group is also seeking a concurrent rezoning from agricultural to medium-density residential (MDR), which would allow for up to 10 homes per acre.
In a staff report, City of Sanford planner Darren Ebersole wrote that the land “may not be eligible for annexation as it appears that [Seminole County] is the utility provider for this site”.
He also wrote that the “MDR land use and zoning is incompatible with the surrounding land uses”, and stated that “the appropriate land use would be LDR, which allows six units per net buildable acres.”
The current plans propose a density of 5.5 homes per acre, which would be allowed under the low-density residential (LDR) zoning designation.
There are at least a few other townhome projects in the works for the Sanford area. For example, Sadique Jaffer of Lake Mary-based Jaffer Acquisitions Group plans to build 114 townhomes on a 13.5-acre property on the southeastern corner of E. Lake Mary Boulevard and Botanical Way. The plans also call for a 2,691-square-foot quick-service restaurant along Botanical Way and a future development parcel set aside for a 10,000-square-foot office building near the terminus of Red Cleveland Boulevard.
Beazer Homes intends to build 58 townhomes and 3 acres of commercial outparcels at 3257 E Lake Mary Blvd., and EcoVision Homes is building 71 workforce townhomes at 2520 Ridgewood Ave.
Additionally, D.R. Horton has plans to build a 32.6-acre mixed-use project with 97 townhomes, 320 multifamily units, and a 3-acre commercial outparcel at the southwest corner of State Road 46 and Richmond Avenue.
Townhomes typically provide a more affordable option than the average single-family house, which is crucial considering the exponential growth in home prices in the Orlando market over the past five years. Data from Homes.com found that the average home price in the market at the beginning of 2020 was roughly $250,000, compared to the March 2025 average price of $385,000.
However, home price growth has stalled over the last couple of years, and the Orlando area was among the four markets that posted an annual decline in home prices in March. The Orlando market, with a 0.3% annual price decline, ranked 37th in price growth out of the 40 markets included in a recent Homes.com report.
“I think there are several factors at play, the first being a small disconnect between what sellers want for their properties and what buyers are willing to pay in the current environment. Also, insurance pricing has receded in the last year by more than 20%, but it remains prohibitive relative to other high-growth areas. Interest rates also remain elevated and have moved up this month, further narrowing affordability,” said Lisa McNatt, Director of Market Analytics at CoStar Group, the parent company of Homes.com.
Jacksonville and Tampa reported even larger annual price decreases of 1.0% and 2.7%, while Miami posted a relatively strong annual price increase of 3.6%. Nationally, the rate of price growth slowed down during the first few months of the year, but home prices nationwide are still up 2.2% annually.
“Population growth plays an important role as well, and Orlando has had a stronger pace of annual population growth in recent years than either Tampa or Jacksonville,” McNatt said. The Orlando market’s population grew 2.7% in 2024. In comparison, Tampa’s population growth measured 1.6%, and Jacksonville’s population climbed 1.1%.
Another sliver of good news for homebuyers in Central Florida is the region’s relatively low cost of insurance since Orlando isn’t a coastal market. For example, local homebuyers are faced with insurance costs about half the average rate found in South Florida.
“The combination of stalled price growth and lower additional costs of ownership could boost affordability for some buyers. This is particularly good news for first-time homebuyers
struggling with an average home price increase of roughly 170% in the last five years that has kept many of them locked out of ownership,” the Homes.com report read.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)607-8160 or TyWilliams@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
