Hopeful But Wary: Will Promising Signs For Home Construction Fizzle Once Again?

John Carrier of J.F.C. Endeavors, Inc. discusses new housing developments and the Connecticut housing market.

PLAINVILLE Home builder Johnny Carrier savors the nail gun's staccato tap-tap as two workers finish piecing together two-by-fours at Samuel's Crossing near the Plainville-Farmington line.

Carpenters hoist up the wall frame for the colonial, one of four houses that Carrier's company is building in the development, all in various stages of construction.

Carrier, watching from behind a stack of framing studs, sees promise this spring in the pace of building. But he wonders if it will last, considering what happened last year.

"It was good out of the gate until April, when it died," Carrier says. "Is it going to continue this year, or are we going to have the same cycle?"

Carrier and other developers in the Hartford area are hopeful but wary, even with the state as a whole coming off its best year in new home construction in five years. The number of housing permits single-family houses, apartment units and condominiums jumped by 16 percent last year, compared with 2012.

But most of the increase last year was in Fairfield County, and an analysis of data by The Courant shows that only Fairfield County has returned to the robust residential building levels that the state enjoyed prior to start of the housing downturn in 2007.

The strong showing on the state's Gold Coast last year was dominated by apartments, not single-family houses.

Statewide, overall home construction started out strong this year, but has lost some momentum this spring.

Carrier whose family-owned home building company, By Carrier Inc., focuses on houses and condominiums said he expects that his part of the residential construction market will keep making gains, albeit slowly.

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Hopeful But Wary: Will Promising Signs For Home Construction Fizzle Once Again?