Washington County New Home Construction: Heading for BOOM or BUST?

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Washington County New Home Construction: Heading for BOOM or BUST?

Welcome! Today on GoStGeorgeTV I’ve got my hard hat on because:

1. We’re going to be talking about the recent construction boom here in Washington County. 
2. And I believe (obviously) in a “Safety First” philosophy. 

I will walk you through this subject and let you know what to expect in the near future as a result of this rise in home construction

So, who is building all these homes? As of May, the top Builders shook up as follows: 

• Salisbury Homes is the leader pulling 41 building permits totaling 7 million dollars.
• Henry Walker Homes – 34 permits
• Ence Homes – 30 permits
• Sunriver St. George – 19 permits
• And New Trend Construction pulled 15 permits as of the date of this video. 

What people really want to know is if this BOOM is going to BUST, and after the events of the most recent economic meltdown, it’s a valid question! Here are my thoughts: 

No, this building boom is not out of control. Note that the total # of building permits pulled in 2013, (1600), is less than HALF of the total # pulled in the “Boom” of 2005 when a whopping 3500 permits were pulled. As a matter of fact, in 2009 85% fewer permits were pulled than 2005, that’s almost a 100% decrease! This is a healthy return to the construction industry based on cooped up demand for new homes. 

The real question here is can this level of construction be sustained?

• While I do not believe that we will have a big home construction decline, I predict that 6 months from now there will be quite a few builders who will regret building those last few spec homes, left holding the proverbial “bag”. 
• This will likely result in having to sell those homes for a lower price than they had hoped. 
• I also predict that the building market will slow down soon due to a decline in housing affordability. NOTE – I did NOT say that the entire market will necessarily slow down, simply that the dramatic increases in new construction costs will price Buyers out of NEW HOMES. 

If you have any more questions, feel free to call or e-mail us with anything Also, don’t forget to utilize our FREE MLS home search and home value report links on our website. And our full, detailed St. George Real Estate report is always available 24/7 so you can be the smartest kid on the block! Check it out here: St. George, Utah Real Estate Report

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