Building Permits And Sales Trends February 27, 2010

One way to see potential supply and demand issues for Tallahassee housing is by monitoring our single family building permits and new home sales trends. With a glut of homes on the market, and an equal or greater amount of homes in the shadow inventory, it's not a surprise that new home construction levels are very low right now.

Not only are new home building permits and sales down, they are the worst that I have recorded over the past 20 years. This is horrible news for home builders in Leon County (and they don't need this graph to know it). It also is hurting the Tallahassee economy, as all those people who work in and around the new home construction industry are without work.

But I do not think building new homes right now will help our economy. The short-term gain in job growth will quickly dissolve into lost property values and a longer real estate market recovery cycle. We must work to consume the glut of homes that are available today before we start applying for more building permits.

Any activity that adds dwelling units to the "homes for sale" market or the "homes for rent" market is only going to compound an already serious problem with supply in our housing market. Many homes that were for sale are converting to homes for rent, which does nothing to hurt or help the market. The key is bringing in consumers to reduce the overall supply without having to issue more building permits.

Great Tallahassee Real Estate Resources

Do you want to know more about the Tallahassee real estate market? The following are some of the best resources that you can find on Tallahassee real estate:

• Daily Real Estate Blog (A Technorati Top 100): Tallahassee Real Estate Blog
• Current Housing Reports: Housing Market Reports
• Map Based Property Search Tool: MLS Property Search
• Foreclosure Reports: Lis Pendens and Foreclosures
• List of Distressed Properties in the MLS: Distressed Properties
• REALTOR® news and updates: Successful REALTORS®