Sell Your Lot in Port Malabar

Selling Land in Port Malabar: What to Know

Port Malabar is the large General Development Corporation subdivision that makes up much of Palm Bay. It was laid out in numbered units of mostly quarter-acre lots, and many of those lots are still vacant, with owners spread across the country and the world. If you own a Port Malabar lot and want to sell, you do not have to list it and wait.

EasyLotBuyer buys Port Malabar lots for cash. We make a cash offer within 24 hours, charge no fees or commissions, pay the closing costs, and can close in as few as 7 days. We also buy land with back taxes, liens, title issues or no road access.

What Port Malabar is

General Development Corporation (GDC) platted Port Malabar before the City of Palm Bay was incorporated. The city describes the lots as largely quarter-acre single-family lots. GDC built roads and drainage ditches, canals and headwalls, but development stopped in many areas when GDC went bankrupt in 1991.

Today the units are inside the City of Palm Bay, so the city's building, zoning and utility rules apply. Each lot is identified by its unit, block and lot number. You can find yours on your deed or tax bill, or on the Brevard County Property Appraiser website.

Roads and the GO Roads bond

Many Port Malabar streets were cut decades ago and wore out. In November 2018, Palm Bay voters approved a $150 million General Obligation bond to repave city roads. The city reports more than 418 miles of road work, including many Port Malabar units such as Units 13, 14, 24, 25, 31, 32 and 42. Phases 1 and 2 are complete, Phase 3 is under way, Phase 4 is funded, and Phase 5 does not yet have funding.

Owners do not get a separate paving bill for this program. The bond is repaid by a voted debt tax on Palm Bay property tax bills, so a vacant lot pays a share each year. Some areas also carry their own set charges. For example, the Tax Collector lists a Port Malabar Unit 55 maintenance assessment, and parts of Palm Bay pay the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District user fee.

City water and sewer, or well and septic

This is the biggest difference between one Port Malabar lot and the next. Palm Bay Utilities serves a large part of the city, but some areas have no water or sewer lines. Check your address on the city's service availability page. On a standard 80 foot lot, the city lists $4,347.98 to connect to water and $5,770.40 to connect to sewer. Fees change, so confirm with Palm Bay Utilities at (321) 952-3420.

Where lines are not available, a buyer needs a well and a septic system. DOH-Brevard takes septic permits, and its fee for a new system without a site evaluation is $510. If the lot is in the state's Indian River Lagoon Protection Program area, a new septic system since January 1, 2024 must connect to sewer if available, or be a nitrogen-reducing system that removes at least 65 percent of the nitrogen.

The city is moving homes off septic. Palm Bay estimates more than 32,000 septic systems and 12,000 drinking water wells in the city, and its mandatory connection ordinance requires developed properties with lines at the property to connect. A lot with water and sewer at the street usually draws more builders than a lot that needs a well and a nitrogen-reducing septic system.

The Compound: Units 51, 52 and 53

The area known as the Compound in southwest Palm Bay is made up of Port Malabar Units 51, 52 and 53. The city says it has 4,978 parcels, mostly quarter-acre lots, and more than 2,700 different owners. GDC built about 200 miles of roads there, which are now aging.

The city states that the Compound has no water, sewer or electric lines and that the whole area is in a flood zone. That is why lots there sell for much less than lots in built-out units. The city is studying ways to develop the area with help from federal grants, but no timeline for utilities has been set. If you own a lot in the Compound, we buy there too.

Scrub-jays, gopher tortoises and clearing

Parts of Port Malabar in southeast Palm Bay lie inside Florida scrub-jay habitat areas mapped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Palm Bay holds a citywide habitat conservation plan and federal permit, so owners in those areas can still build. The city adds $125 per quarter acre to the building permit, and lots in the habitat areas may not be cleared from March 1 through June 30 each year, with a few exceptions. You can view the mapped parcels on the city's scrub-jay lots page.

Gopher tortoises are protected in Florida. If a lot has burrows, the builder needs a relocation permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before clearing.

Flood zones

Palm Bay has the Indian River Lagoon on its east side and the St. Johns River marsh on the west. To build in a flood zone, the city requires a sealed survey with elevations and an elevation certificate during construction. On the March 2014 flood maps, about 5,000 residential lots in Palm Bay were removed from the Special Flood Hazard Area. Palm Bay's rating in FEMA's Community Rating System gives residents a 15 percent discount on flood insurance.

Check your lot on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center or ask Palm Bay Growth Management at (321) 952-3400 ext. 5246.

What Port Malabar lots sell for

We do not have public sale prices for Port Malabar as a whole, so these figures are Palm Bay ZIP code medians from recent market data. These ZIP codes include Port Malabar units and other land. Across Brevard County, lots under 1 acre had a median sale of $48,000.

Price depends on the unit, whether city water and sewer reach the lot, the flood zone, and the road. Lots in the Compound and other areas with no utilities usually sell at the low end.

• 32908 Palm Bay: median sale $36,500 (408 sales, 487 listings)
• 32909 Palm Bay: median sale $47,000 (368 sales)
• 32907 Palm Bay: median sale $55,000 (123 sales)
• 32905 Palm Bay: median sale $65,000 (17 sales)