Developer benefits from good timing

When Brian Stock started developing land and building homes again in Collier County in 2010, it wasn't clear yet that the housing market was on track for recovery.

Now, three years later, Stock is benefiting from that prescience.

The Naples-based privately held company controlled by Stock and his family has sold 465 homes valued at $276 million this year through September. That's an 85% sales increase compared with 2012.

Stock says buyers contracted to buy 54 homes in September worth $30.5 million. That's a 130% increase compared with September 2012 and it's surprising because it's typically a slow month for home sales in the region.

As a result, Stock is boosting its inventory of new homes available for sale in nine communities in Lee and Collier counties. It has built or is nearing completion of 150 such homes and it has 40 furnished models. Prices range from $160,000 to more than $7 million.

Good timing has always been Stock's hallmark. In 2007, the company was among the first to recognize the severity of the economic downturn and it slashed prices of new homes by 35%.

Now, prices are rising again, and Stock says it has boosted the price of its new homes by 27% so far this year.