Loading
National housing news continues to be grim, but Brad Hunter, chief economist at home-building consulting firm Metrostudy, cautions some markets are doing surprisingly better than expected.
Metrostudy counts lots, homes under construction and move-ins inside subdivisions around the country. His firm's employees also drive by each home to verify whether it's occupied.
For example, there was 2.7-months' supply of finished vacant homes in Lee County in the fourth quarter of 2010, down from a peak of 5.1 months in the fourth quarter of 2009. Because move-ins exceeded housing starts, the inventory of new homes fell to 553, the lowest number since 1993. Metrostudy considers a market is in equilibrium between supply and demand at two months of inventory.
In the Sarasota region, finished vacant homes fell to 2.3 months of supply. Homebuilding starts jumped nearly 41% to 1,679 homes in 2010, but closings remained ahead of the new supply with 1,830.
While Sarasota and Fort Myers improved, other areas still lagged. In particular, the Tampa region's supply of finished vacant homes rose to 4.1 months as builders boosted inventory and sales slowed.
The message: Despite the uneven recovery, it pays to monitor submarkets for pockets of strength.
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
