As we all know, vacant land is a scare commodity here but we continue to see a lot of residential construction throughout our local cities..If you drive through the Golden Rectangle, nearly every street seems to have construction crews lined up along the streets. Obviously, if a home is designated historic, changes will be minimal to the exterior but a tear down is often the reality for homes with no designation. Sometimes there are good reasons for a bull doze including safety, condition, practicality and cost but I have been completely shocked when a house that seems to be in good shape disappears overnight. Personally, I like the idea of preservation and recycling so it makes me a little sad but I realize there are homes that just can't be saved. Based upon statistics, the Peninsula is not alone. Read on...
More than 10 percent of new single-family homes that began construction in 2016 were part of a teardown project, according to new data from the National Association of Home Builders. That’s up from 7.7 percent in 2015. NAHB defines a teardown as a home that is built on a site where a previous structure existed. Nationwide, there were 79,300 single-family teardowns started in 2016, up from 55,200 in 2015, NAHB estimates.
Builders continue to cite lot shortages as a major setback to new-home construction. Home shoppers and builders are now eyeing teardowns because many of the properties are in prime locations. Take a look at the chart below to see the breakdown of teardown starts by region.
Source: “NAHB Estimates 79,000 Single-Family Tear-Down Starts in 2016,” National Association of Home Builder’s Eye on Housing blog (June 19, 2017)