Single-family housing permits jump in April

GRANT COUNTY — Single-family housing permits increased by 21.5 percent from March to April in Grant County, reflecting a national trend of improvement in one area of housing permits.

The increase comes after Grant County experienced a 35 percent decrease in single-family home permits when comparing the first five months of 2008 to the same period in 2009.

But from March to April, Grant County performed better than the national trend by 18.7 percent.

Nationwide, single-family housing starts were only up by 2.8 percent from March to April, according to the Associated Press.

In Grant County, single-family housing permits and total monthly permits issued this year are as follows:

• January — 4, total permits 27

• February — 8, total permits 44

• March — 11, total permits 51

• April — 12, total permits 65

• May — 5, total permits issued 48

The numbers are according to the Grant County Building Department.

Bruce Preston, owner of Bruce Preston Homes in Moses Lake, said his business is very busy.

“We’re better than the national trend here,” he explained. “Grant County as a whole has been in a bubble.”

“We never had that massive escalation in value. Some places went so ridiculously obscene price-wise. We never had that where houses double in a couple of years.”

It’s also a good time for people to start building their homes between interest rates and lower construction costs, he said.

Some people are saving between 5 to 8 percent by building this year instead of last year, Preston explained.

On an annual comparison, single-family permits in Grant County decreased by 35 percent from Jan. 1 to May 15, 2009 to Jan. 1 to May 15 2008, according to the county.

There were 60 single family permits, 35 mobile permits and one four-plex permit issued from Jan. 1 to May 15, 2008.

In 2009, there were ?39 single-family permits, 35 mobile permits and one duplex permit issued from Jan. 1 to ?May 15, 2009.

The total valuation difference was only 31 percent lower, with $26.8 million in 2008 and $18.3 million in 2009, explained Preston.

“As a builder, I would look at the other side of it,” Preston noted. “Like the sizes in valuations and the square footage in the house.”

Alderbrook Homes owner Dan Olin is working on a housing development in Ephrata called Prairie Bluff.

“We are just finishing up on a couple of pre-solds here,” he commented. “We have quite a bit of interest, but the market hasn’t come back like we would have hoped …We’re still doing a lot better than the West side … We haven’t been hurt nearly as bad as people on the West side.”

Olin also said the bank credit is still tough because it’s been tightened up during the last six months. Tightened credit also seems to apply for people with good credit, he noted.

Coldwell Banker Sales Manager Mark Fancher said the economy in Moses Lake is great and there are buyers willing to buy.

“I think the whole Northwest is doing better than the rest of the nation,” Fancher commented. “There’s buyers for properties as long as they get their funding approved.”

The costs of higher-end home prices are plummeting, but sales on homes, selling for $250,000 or less, are staying solid, he noted.