Monday, March 26, 2007

In the Pipeline

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

Developers are seeking approval of a record number of new homes in the Sacramento region, even as sales have dropped to their lowest level in years. Through the end of last year, a total of 99,438 single-family houses, condos or townhomes were in the development pipeline in the six-county region, according to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. That's a 13.6 percent increase from December 2004, the most recent comparable data. Over the same period, new-home sales plummeted 44 percent.
...
Excluded from that total are thousands more homes at either end of the spectrum. Unsold homes and lots in existing new-home communities aren't included because they have completed the entitlement process and theoretically are already on the market. Also excluded are parcels in master-planned areas that are still years from serious consideration for approval. Those categories boost the expected Sacramento housing stock by at least another 84,000.
...
The Gregory Group, another new-home analyst, reported that new-home sales fell from a peak of about 17,100 in 2004 to about 9,500 last year, the lowest since the company started tracking sales in 1999. At the current rate, 100,000 new homes would be a 10-year supply.
...
Brendan O'Neill, president of the Sacramento division of Beazer Homes, said building advocates are calling for what they refer to as a "20-year visible land supply," which would mean as many as 250,000 lots available for building. He said a ready supply of land for housing reduces costs during peak housing markets, attributing the run-up in home prices between 2002 and 2005 to a scarce supply of entitled land.

1 comment:

Diggin Deeper said...

"The Gregory Group, another new-home analyst, reported that new-home sales fell from a peak of about 17,100 in 2004 to about 9,500 last year, the lowest since the company started tracking sales in 1999. At the current rate, 100,000 new homes would be a 10-year supply"

If true, this is going to get ugly. There go the granite counter tops, coffered ceilings, Tuscany appointments, and upgraded appliances. Hello to your basic box for a price most anyone could afford. Too bad 15-20% of the buyers market won't qualify for loans. Wave goodbye to any equity you have in your home as builders undercut each other to move the inventory.

I have a hard time believing this number is correct and that builders will continue to build in a market that's blatantly falling like a stone. If these numbers are anywhere close, it will take years, imho, to find a bottom