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Metro home building up 4.1%

By R.J. King / The Detroit News

 
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   CLARKSTON -- The number of permits to build new homes in Metro Detroit rose 4.1 percent for the first nine months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to a new housing report.
   The continued strength in new home construction -- an important economic indicator -- was powered by younger customers using low mortgage interest rates to buy homes in the lower price brackets, experts said.
   Housing Consultants Inc., a permit survey company in Clarkston, said southeast Michigan communities issued more than 15,000 permits. The top five communities issuing permits to build single-family homes, condominiums and apartments were Macomb Township, 1,208; Canton Township, 891; Grand Blanc Township, 585; Novi, 542; and Ypsilanti, 459, according to Housing Consultants.
   Homes priced below $250,000 were receiving the most activity from recent buyers, said Bernie Glieberman, president of Crosswinds Communities Inc. in Novi.
   Builders most often pull permits from a given community when a sale has been completed.
   "We're having one of our better years because we have available land to build on that has community approvals," Glieberman said. "Low mortgage rates also helped. In some cases, home buyers can get a lower monthly (mortgage) payment than what they're paying for rent."
   Interest rates are about 5.9 percent for a 30-year-fixed rate mortgage in Metro Detroit, according to http://www.rmcreport.com/ in Brighton, and many builders are reporting more traffic at model homes between $70,000 and $250,000.
   At the start of the year, mortgage rates averaged 6.84 percent among 80 mortgage companies in southeastern Michigan that http://www.rmcreport.com/ surveyed.
   "We're seeing a lot of interest for starter homes from young professionals, newly-married couples and singles," said Michael Chirco, president of MJC Cos. in Macomb Township. "Higher-priced homes are selling a little slower, but the traffic has been good."
   Doug Keating, a broker with Snyder Kinney Bennett & Keating, a real estate company in Birmingham, said homes priced between $400,000 and $1 million, which often appeal to dual-income families, have been slow to sell this year.

You can reach R.J. King at (313) 222-2504 or mailto:rjking@detnews.com
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