There were several articles some months back about some of the big builders walking away (locally) from a number of land options and losing millions in deposits in the process.
I’m also seeing sales transactions for some parcels from one builder to another, borne primarily out of concerns for project feasibility.
The only reason there’s any construction going on right now at all is because these builders are too far into those projects at this point to walk away or to allow those projects to just sit in wait of the more profitable market conditions. Once they get going they all have holding costs in the form of loans, and the terms for those loans are a lot more expensive than for your average home loan.
Going forward there will be fewer 500-unit subdivisions that would attract the big developers, but there are a lot of builders who can profitably develop a 12-unit or 30-unit subdivision and there remain a LOT of parcels in those smaller size ranges.
