Home construction up in Texas Township as housing starts fall across Southwest Michigan
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:26 PM
Home construction up in Texas Township as housing starts fall across Southwest Michigan
By Alex Nixon | Kalamazoo Gazette
January 25, 2010, 11:20AM
Mike Lanting cuts lumber for a new home under construction in Allen Edwin's housing development, Rudgate Trails, in Texas Township in August 2009.TEXAS TOWNSHIP — The downward trend in new home building continued in 2009 across West Michigan.In Kalamazoo County last year, 22 percent fewer permits for new home construction were taken out than in the previous year, according to figures from Builder Track Publications Inc., based in Ada.
But the Builder Track numbers reveal one bright spot: Texas Township, which recorded its best year for new housing starts since 2005.
Builders took out 118 permits for new construction — referred to as housing starts — in Texas Township last year. That was up 42 percent over 2008.
“That would be the Rudgate project,” said Greg DeHaan, vice president of Allen Edwin Homes, which closed the most deals for new homes last year in its history.
“That’s gone really, really well,” DeHaan said of new homes being built in the company’s Texas Township developments along Texas Drive.
The numbers came on the heels of a report last week that December home sales in Kalamazoo County increased compared to the same month in 2008. It was the third straight month that sales were up from a year earlier.
Greg DeHaan, vice president of Allen Edwin HomesFor the full year 2009, however, 3 percent fewer homes were sold in the county than in 2008, but members of the Greater Kalamazoo Association of Realtors said they remained cautiously optimistic that sales will increase.
Tax credits driving activity
In Texas Township, Allen Edwin Homes’ expansion of Rudgate is underway and could result in up to 140 new homes, on top of the 80 original parcels that were under construction last year.
The federal government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers drove many sales for the company, DeHaan said.
But elsewhere in West Michigan, home construction was down.
“The economy in Michigan is still challenged with the downturn in the automobile manufacturing and sales industry,” said Dale Shugars, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Kalamazoo and the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids.
Housing starts in Kent County for the year were down 19 percent compared to 2008, according to Builder Track. Ottawa County was down 28 percent, Muskegon County dropped 68 percent, and Allegan County was off by 36 percent.
And those declines were on top of consecutive drops in the three previous years, Builder Track numbers show.
Remodeling could increase
Fewer new homes under construction can help to drive demand for existing homes, which account for roughly 80 percent of the total housing market, Frank Mortl III, chief executive officer of the Greater Kalamazoo Association of Realtors, said this week.
As housing starts decrease, Shugars said, permits for remodeling projects are on the rise.
“Our members are doing a lot of jobs that maybe a few years ago they wouldn’t have had the time to do,” he said.
That remodeling work, in addition to energy efficient upgrades, is keeping many people busy, he said. But he does not expect 2010 to see a major recovery.
“We’re flirting at the bottom,” he said. “The consumer is just uncertain. I think we’re just at the bottom and it’s just going to keep going for a while.”
Allen Edwin’s DeHann, however, has a different take on 2010.
“We’ve started off very strong,” he said of home construction this year. “I’m really excited about this year.”
The extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credits will continue to draw first-time home buyers, he said. And interest among so-called “move-up buyers” — existing home owners looking to buy a larger or newer home — is picking up as they expect to be able to sell their homes.
“We’re seeing move-up buyers in our models and in our sales centers,” he said. “And they’re preparing for, ‘as soon as my house sells … I’m going to need a place to go.’”
Contact Alex Nixon at anixon@kalamazoogazette.com or (269) 388-2783.
Kazoo School ranks in top 5 percent of schools using comprehensive testing program
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:02 PM
KALAMAZOO -- Kazoo School students have done it again -- and then some.
For the second year in a row, the private, independent school ranked among the top 5 percent of more than 1,700 public and private schools administering Comprehensive Testing Program 4 assessments, results released last month showed.
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