Builders, Realtors expect steady recovery to continue Modest gains forecast for area housing starts, home sales

Published: Friday, January 2, 2015 at 5:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, January 2, 2015 at 7:38 a.m.

Just like it did in 2014.

We saw significant growth in 2012 and more in 2013. In 2014, we had quieter, nominal gains, but its sustainable, said Matt Wilson, a broker associate with Coquina Real Estate and Construction in Flagler Beach.

I expect things to stay the course, said Wilson, 2015 president of the Flagler County Association of Realtors. Its a market we can live with. Were not having the wild rides up and painful falls (of the past).

Permits for new homes locally plunged in 2011, falling to less than 1/12th the total in 2005.

New home construction in the Volusia-Flagler area picked up in 2012, with a 51 percent gain in permits issued. That accelerated in 2013 with a 70 percent increase.

In the first 11 months of 2014, 1,599 permits for new homes were issued in the two counties, a 7.3 percent gain over the same period the previous year.

But as much as new home construction activity has increased, it remains well below the 2005 peak when Volusia-Flagler area builders pulled 8,403 permits.

Sandy Burke Bishop, executive director of the Volusia Building Industry Association, expects growth in the New Year to be at about the same rate as in 2014.

Were not looking at a blazing, crackling fire, but 2015 should be steadily, although slowly, improving, Bishop said. We are happy with the goal of a sustainable pace.

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Builders, Realtors expect steady recovery to continue Modest gains forecast for area housing starts, home sales