Opinion: Notice the New Construction?

As I ride around the Rumson-Fair Haven area, I can’t help but notice all of the new construction that’s been going on.

It seems to me that we haven’t seen this much construction activity in five or six years. It's another good sign that the real estate market in our area has turned around.

Earlier this month I reported that 25 percent more Rumson single-family homes had sold in the first six months of 2012 compared to last year (52 vs. 40). I also reported that the inventory of Fair Haven single-family homes was down to a 7.2 month supply (seven months or less is considered to be a “normal market”).

It’s not just in Rumson and Fair Haven either. Year-to-date existing home sales in Little Silver are up 32 percent compared to a year ago (33 compared to 25); and, in Shreswbury the number of home sales has more than doubled (from 12 to 25).

Nationwide, the National Associate of Home Builders’ latest report shows that as of May we were seeing the highest level of residential construction spending since early 2009. This is good news for many reasons, including the number of construction workers who are being put back to work again and the increased purchases of lumber, supplies, appliances and other things needed to build a new house.

With four more months of good weather, a lot of the new homes should be finished by Thanksgiving, and a lot of families are going to be spending the winter enjoying their brand-new homes.

All of them will be a lot more energy-efficient to heat and cool than the houses that were there before them; and, hopefully, a significant number of the new homes will be “green” homes that are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified.

If you’re thinking about building a new home and aren’t familiar with LEED, you might want to take a look at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Web site at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19.

Len