Housing Watch: Challenging market conditions create slowdown in new housing
Experts say they have seen a slow start this year in the home-building industry.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Spring may be a traditional time for prospective buyers to check out new homes, but this year could be an exception.
Construction crews continue to work on homes that Valley families can't wait to see finished.
However, the pace of building new houses has slowed this year.
Steve Flach of the Fresno Association of Realtors says a shortage in home building adds to the shortage of available inventory.
"Within the city of Fresno specifically, we're about 17,000 homes short and the City of Fresno is building about 2500 units a year, between single-family and multi-family. So at that rate, we're going to have to build for about seven years just to catch up to our current population," said Flanch.
Mike Prandini of the Building Industry Association says the city of Clovis has only approved about 250 housing permits this year.
"That's not nearly enough to meet the housing needs of the city or the county based on the population growth," Prandini explained.
Prandini explains why more homes aren't being built in Fresno County.
"There's a multitude of reasons. Land availability, infrastructure availability, interest rates, income," said Prandini.
Right now, the median sales price of a home in the Fresno-Clovis area is $415,000, which is too steep for many families.
During the pandemic, the California Housing Partnership said Fresno County needed at least 36,000 affordable housing units for families in need.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer talked of the challenge ahead.
"We know that we need 6,900 affordable housing units in Fresno city over the next three years and that will only get us to 26% of our need. So, we are doing everything we can to build in Fresno, to expedite the process," said Dyer.
Prandini says builders believe it will be a cool spring period among home buyers and don't expect that to change until interest rates start to come down.
Spring is the perfect time to do some house hunting, but builders are prepared for a slowdown.
For news updates, follow Dale Yurong on Facebook and Twitter.
