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New home building on rise in township

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By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer 7:00 PM Sunday, November 15, 2009

New home construction in Fairfield Twp. appears to be on the rise.

More homes have already been built through September than in all of 2008, and that’s a promising sign for township and industry officials.

“This is an exciting time,” said Debbie Pennington, Hamilton-Fairfield-Oxford Board of Realtors president.

About 500 new homes could be built on the current land zoned residential, said township assistant administrator Skylor Miller, indicating it’s a conservative estimate. The majority of the available land is at Fairfield Ridge, Walden Ponds, Rentchler Estate and Avalon Station.

Fairfield Twp. home building dropped from 434 in 2001 to 40 in 2008. But that continual drop has apparently leveled, Miller said.

“This year I think we’re going to go back up to our 2007 numbers, which was in the 60s,” he said.

In 2007, 63 new homes were built. Through September, 46 homes have been built and Miller projects about 15 more by year’s end.

“We are seeing the home builders kind of climbing back up,” he said. “Maybe it’s due to the economy, maybe it’s due to some builders changing gears designing homes.”

And there is positive momentum in the market, said Dan Dressman, Home Builders Association of Greater executive director.

“Most of the activity in the past year has been in the starter category, first-time buyers basically. And a lot of it has to do with the fact of the $8,000 tax credit,” he said.

That tax credit has been expanded and extended until April 2010, which Dressman said could encourage more homes to be purchased.

The tax credit may be having a domino effect, Debbie Pennington said. She said many first-timers are buying existing homes.

“And that’s allowing (existing) homeowners to move up,” said the Sibcy Cline real estate agent.

And the trend for new homes will be smaller homes, Dressman said. People are reassessing wants versus needs.

“I think the days of the McMansions are over,” he said. “I think you’re going to be seeing less square-footage, smaller footprints but with a lot of the same amenities (in custom homes).”

Single-family residential

2000 — 427

2001 — 434

2002 — 302

2003 — 206

2004 — 163

2005 — 176

2006 — 105

2007 — 63

2008 — 40

2009 — 46*

*Through September