Brevard County Permits, Home Construction Drop
Filings of new home permits in Brevard County in February fell 73 percent compared with February 2006, a new report shows.
It was also down 34 percent from January 2007, according to Florida Today.
Local home builders filed 169 permits for new-home construction last month, compared with 637 filings in February 2006, the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard’s report shows.
In yet another sign of a sagging Brevard County housing market, the total value of the February permit filings was $35.18 million. In January, home builders filed for 258 permits valued at $58.01 million.
Nationally, new-home construction rebounded in February following a steep January slide. But home builder confidence remains mild as analysts point to a further decline in permits as a bad sign for the troubled industry.
Franck Kaiser, Executive V.P. and CEO of the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard, was surprised a bit by February’s low permit total.
“I know things are bad, but I didn’t expect it to be that low,” Kaiser said.
The permit numbers mainly reflect the number of people buying new homes that have yet to be built, and, right now, that number is low.
The dip in Florida mortgage activity and new-home construction, as well as sales of existing single-family homes and condos, in the past few months is worrisome because real estate has meant huge support for the local and national economies.
The worry is that if home construction slows, so will the economy.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen out there,” Kaiser said. “It’s certainly affecting the entire economy.”
Joseph DiPrima, president of DiPrima Custom Homes in Satellite Beach, said his permit filings the past few months have been few and far between. DiPrima builds custom homes in the $600,000 to $1.5 million range.
“It’s pretty slow,” DiPrima said. “There’s a lot of inventory out there to choose from, and there are not many buyers.”
DiPrima said a sense of urgency seems to be missing among buyers. That marks a change from several months ago, when the turnaround time from listing to someone making an offer often was only days.
Kaiser said home builders have been concentrating on selling off inventory of homes that already have been built - mainly from a boom in building when the local real estate market was better.
Kaiser said he doesn’t expect substantial improvements in the market any time soon, even as Florida mortgage loan costs remain historically low.
“I don’t expect March’s numbers to be much better,” he said. “We’re hoping things pick up in the second quarter.”
Ritch Workman, president-elect of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers, said he has seen an increase in buyers in Brevard this year, compared with the beginning of last year.
“Right now, there’s a lot of bargain-shoppers,” especially for homes priced below $250,000, Workman said.
However, his Florida mortgage brokers aren’t seeing a lot of demand for new construction, and don’t anticipate 2007 to be a record-breaker.
More home market news is expected on Friday, when the National Association of Realtors and the Florida Association of Realtors are scheduled to release sales data for February.
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