San Antonio Builders Start Fewer Homes In The Last 12 Months
May 2, 2008
The pace of home building continues to slide downhill in San Antonio, but at least it’s not plunging off the cliff like much of the rest of the country.
Home builders started 36 percent fewer homes in the last 12 months in San Antonio, as local builders continue to pull back in response to the national economy and turmoil in the mortgage markets.
As of the end of March, builders started 11,445 homes, 6,500 fewer homes than at the end of March the previous year, according to the housing research firm Metrostudy.
The silver lining: San Antonio builders sold 14,527 homes in the last four quarters, chipping away at the inventory of new homes sitting and waiting for buyers.
For a year and a half now, builders have sold more homes than they’ve started. And in the last year, the inventory of new homes on the market has fallen by more than 3,000.
San Antonio has a lower inventory of new homes for sale — a 2.4-month supply — than any city in the 23 states Metrostudy surveys.
“I’m a believer that we’re better off here,” said Jack Inselmann, vice president of the U.S. Central Division of Metrostudy. “We’ve got better job growth than anybody. We’ve got a better housing market than anybody.”
Much of the decline is in the market for new homes priced under $175,000.
That’s the segment hit hardest by the mortgage crisis because it includes first-time buyers who may not have saved much of a down payment. Until recently they didn’t need one. But now mortgage lenders generally require money down and healthy credit scores.
Continue to read “S.A. builders start fewer homes” written by By Jennifer Hiller from the Express-News.
Comments
