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The National Association of Home Builders reports that builders catering to the 55 and up market are seeing a continued increase in traffic and that traffic during the first quarter of this year is up. The report came from the 55+Housing Market Index (55+HMI).
The story from the NAHB further states, “A strong and growing number of retirees and empty-nest households are interested in either downsizing or moving to a more user-friendly home – especially if it’s near their existing community,” said David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist. “But the current market still presents significant obstacles to homeowners who need to sell an existing ho me before buying a more appropriate one. That situation is holding many mature consumers back from moving.”
The 55+ HMI is a diffusion index, derived from quarterly surveys of builders and developers designed to study builder sentiment on single-family housing and both multifamily condo and rental conditions. The survey asks builders to rank their perceptions of the current sales conditions, prospective buyer traffic, and market expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair,” or “poor.” The responses are used to create a scale of 0 to 100, with a rating of 50 generally indicating that the number of positive responses is about the same as the number of negative responses.
Despite difficult market conditions, builders who specialize in this sector are seeing more prospective buyers coming through their doors according to the survey. Builders exhibited guarded optimism as they look forward six months, with the six-month expectation index number rising from 24 to 26 for single-family sales, and the condo sales index number rising from 17 to 20.
Friendswood Development Company, the Houston-based developer which pioneered the concept of master-planned communities in Houston and is also developing active adult communities focused on new-home buyers age 55 and up, has also seen an increase in traffic and sales in its Heritage at Towne Lake and BellaVita communities.
Posted on Jan 1, 2009 | Tagged in: Village Builders , model homes , Fairfield , Cypress
Village Builders' highly popular luxury low maintenance patio homes remain in high demand in Fairfield, where the builder recently opened its newest model in the newest section of the community. Village Builders features two collections of patio homes in Fairfield, created to appeal to buyers age 55 or better. Located on smaller home sites and requiring less overall maintenance, the homes have been very popular among buyers moving from within the northwest area as well as those relocating to Houston.
The Garden Collection of homes is priced from the $150,000s and the Verandas Collection is priced from the $190,000s.
