Mar 9,
2007
REAL ESTATE: House starts � and sizes � are
down
| The days
of McMansion building seem to be over � at least temporarily.
�As a builder, what I�ve observed is the market started
slowing down about two years ago � in towns like Ridgefield,
builders have really stopped building spec houses,� said Joe Fossi,
a professional builder who sits on the Planning and Zoning
Commission.
�I think we�re starting to see a trend of people
wanting to see smaller houses.�
He said the new construction
he is working on is custom-built, not speculative. �Customs are
starting to be smaller,� he said.
Local architects Sean
O�Kane and Jeff Mose agreed.
�We�re seeing clients that are
definitely sensitive to the negative press that McMansions have
engendered,� Mr. O�Kane said. �We�re seeing a trend in the opposite
direction � new homes that look more like old ones.
�Definitely there�s a glut of large homes that have been
thrown up. Spec houses tend to be as big as they can be thrown up.�
He added, �We don�t like big houses on small lots. There�s
more sensitivity to scale.
Mr. Mose said, �The two custom
houses we have now are not McMansions �they�re smaller in
scale.�
Soaring land prices have made the economic model for
smaller houses �difficult,� Mr. Fossi said.
But Mr. O�Kane
said it�s not profit that is motivating his clients. �If anything,
it can sometimes cost more to build a smaller, well-built house,� he
said. �What we�re doing is finding out that some of our clients can
do with less space. It�s a taste issue.�
Less
new construction
Building Department head Bill
Reynolds said the number of new building permits has dropped
noticeably recently.
�In 2003, we had 44 new building permits
for single-family residences,� he said. �In 2004, we had 46 new
building permits, in 2005, 33, in 2006, 28 plus five from Toll
brothers, which is multi-family housing.�
Planning and Zoning
Commission Chairwoman Becky Mucchetti said she noticed that 2006 was
�much slower.�
�It wasn�t so quiet that we didn�t meet, but
our meetings ended at 9, not at 12:30 the way they used to,� she
said. �We only had one large subdivision come in last year � that
was for the Landegger property, and they withdrew. I�m not sure if
this is more normal. The last several years were much more
frenzied.�
Mr. Fossi has studied all of the new construction
on the market in Ridgefield to see what is selling �and what
isn�t.
While the national statistics on new construction
sales are alarming, Ridgefield�s market has some signs of life,
particularly at the highest end, he said. �The houses that cost $1.4
million to $2.3 million are not moving very quickly,� he said. �The
inventory of new construction is in the neighborhood of 30 houses.
�My sense is that the inventory is starting to clear out. My
gut feeling is that the market is definitely improving. But there
still seems to be more movement on the higher end of the
market.�
Sales of the most luxurious new houses � those that
cost $3 million to $4 million � seem to stay stable, he
said.
Waiting,
renovating
With so much new construction on the
market, some builders are taking their time to finish projects, Mr.
Fossi said.
Tax Assessor Al Garzi said the property taxes for
new houses increase as they get closer to completion. �The trigger
is how far along it is,� he said. �Whatever the status is, the
assessment reflects that.�
�Right now everyone is kind of
sitting on their hands, waiting,� Mr. Fossi said. �A lot of guys
feel there�s no particular hurry. If most of your business is
speculation, it�s a tough time. Custom houses, not so
much.�
Mr. Reynolds said the half-finished houses around town
are not in danger of deteriorating, as long as they are protected
from the elements. �The wood has a chance to dry �it�s actually good
for it.�
Additions,
alterations
A lot of builders are taking on more
additions and renovations while waiting for the inventory of new
construction to clear out, Mr. Fossi said.
�You do additions
and things you might not normally do. The subcontractors are still
busy �there�s definitely still work out there,� he said.
�We
feel that the renovation market has definitely picked up,� Mr. Mose
agreed.
He said Ridgefielders who might once have bought new
homes are now choosing to fix up their own homes
instead.
Ridgefield has thousands of older homes. Many of
those homes have �life-cycled out,� he said.
Most of the big
subdivisions in town were built in the 1960s and 1970s, he pointed
out.
While only 28 new house permits were issued in 2006,
there were 261 permits issued in the fiscal year 1961, according to
the annual town report. During the 1960s, years of 200 to 350
permits were commonplace.
Tear-downs
Sometimes
it makes more sense to do a �tear-down� than to renovate, Mr. Mose
said.
�The problem is, by the time you get done with an
existing house, it�s actually more economical to put a new house
up,� he said.
�Tear-downs depend on the site,� he said. �One
of our customs is a tear-down. We recognize that the value of the
land is there. We are trying to manage land as a single compound in
more cases � we�re building super high-end. That end of the market
is always going to be OK.�
But Mr. Mose said he feels
strongly that Ridgefield needs a range of housing, including less
expensive houses for younger families.
�If the program the
owner wants starts to outpace the ability of the house, I�ll usually
tell people to walk away and buy another house to renovate,� he
said. �I�m definitely trying to preserve some of the smaller houses.
I walk away from quite a few jobs as a result.�
Mr. Fossi
said he thinks the building business in town will pick up again � it
may just take a while.
�I think we�ve seen these cycles come
and go, and people just have to wait it out,� he said.
� Copyright 2007 by Hersam
Acorn Newspapers
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