Across the country, new home construction is on the rise. So we wanted to know what builders are seeing here locally.
It's a positive trend. More and more people are building homes here in our area, which in turn effects a big part of our local economy.
New home construction last month rose to nearly 7% in the U.S..
And experts here locally say they're also seeing a spike, in new home construction.
They say locally, new home construction has been down for several years, and this boom is certainly welcome.
Bob Himes, Executive Officer of the Builders Association of Northwest Pennsylvania, says it's a positive thing for the entire community.
"It's always encouraging, because the building industry overall is the largest segment of the economy that everybody is depending on. So anytime you have an increase in the construction industry it's always encouraging because it's such a trickle down effect for all the other companies that are doing business with builders." Said Himes.
Himes says mostly larger local developers, who have the land available, are the ones seeing an increase in work.
"At this point it seems like a lot of the larger builders that have the land available for construction seem to be ahead of the pace of last year. Unfortunately, some of the smaller builders that depend on the home owners having the land seem to be a little bit down from where they were last year." Said Himes.
Himes adds that currently, it's tough for people to get home loans because of government regulations.
So if they relaxed those regulations, Himes said it would certainly help the building industry.
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