Record-low mortgage rates and rising home sales mean better times ahead for the area's contractors.
That's according to two new reports that show that both home construction and remodeling activities are on the rise in the Twin Cities and nationwide.
MetroStudy said local housing starts were up 3.8 percent compared with last year, and the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University reported that remodeling activity across the nation is expected to increase almost 6 percent this year.
"I'm very optimistic," said Scot Waggoner, owner and CEO of W.B. Builders. "People were uncertain for such a long time, but now they're fed up with it. They have the money and they're going to do their project."
Waggoner said his company is so confident about the market that it has bought a piece of land and are planning to build a house that will be available for purchase.
"We're looking forward to getting that in the ground and getting it sold," he said.
Indeed, while new home construction is still near record lows, business in picking up. Ryan Jones of the Twin Cities office of MetroStudy said this week there were 3,276 new housing starts in the Twin Cities during the first quarter, putting the supply of new houses in the Twin Cities at 7.1 months. The market is considered healthy, or in balance, when there's a six- to seven-month supply.
MetroStudy tracks housing construction throughout the country by driving through developments and counting vacant lots, houses under construction and houses for sale. It's a different approach than the one taken by the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, which contracts with the Keystone Report to collect building permit applications from various cities.