All Seasons Blog

New home construction heated up in 2012 and most in the industry expect that the building will continue into 2013.

The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department issued 2,022 single-family building permits in the first 10 months of the year. There were more single-family permits issued in El Paso County this year than in any other county in the state, according to a report from the Colorado Division of Housing. El Paso and Douglas counties accounted for a third of the 9,261 single-family building permits issued in the state through October.

It was a great year for Colorado Springs homebuilders, said John Bissett, CEO of JM Weston Homes and new president of the Colorado Springs Housing and Building Association.

“It was about 50 percent better than 2011,” Bissett said.

New home construction has been up across the country, he said, and it seems like the increased activity will continue, though 2013 is unlikely to climb another 50 percent ahead of 2012.

“The buying public has been sitting on the sidelines long enough,” Bissett said.

He said there has been pent-up demand and people are now coming out to buy new homes. Bissett said most of the activity has been in the lower and mid-range homes priced less than $300,000. That’s likely to continue, though Bissett said there could be increased interest in higher-priced homes as the market continues to improve.

“What you’ll see in 2013 that you haven’t seen for years will be developers working on bringing more lots online,” Bissett said.

He says it will start with Cordera, a luxury development on the northeast end of town, which is preparing to bring new lots online early in the new year. While developers will be finishing more lots, Bissett said he doesn’t expect to see developers breaking ground on any new communities in 2013.

“Developers are still pretty constrained in terms of obtaining financing,” Bissett said.

Read more on CSBJ.com: http://csbj.com/2012/12/27/developers-to-bring-on-new-lots-in-2013/