Lot Leads--Get the Dirt on Available Lots

Your HBA has been alerted to a lot for sale in Greenville. See below for details:
Location: 6.42 Acres Woodland Drive Greenville, SC 29617, just 3 miles from Downtown Greenville, in area of homes off Poinsett Hwy between Cherrydale Point shopping center and Furman University.
Directions: From downtown Greenville, take Poinsett Highway 2.8 miles past Cherrydale Point shopping center. Take left onto Woodland Drive. Entrance to property is between two white houses on the right approximately 0.4 miles
Lot Details: Suitable for single family or rezone for multi-family development. Pre-approved preliminary subdivision plan available for consideration or develop as desired. County has pre-approved access drive, road location and cluster development. Currently zoned R10 but adjacent to RM20. Ample city water with access to new 6" main. Sewer main easement on property with pre-approved capacity. Property is wooded with very tall hardwood for timber.
Contact: Tax Map Number 0438000101001. Priced to sell quickly at $35/acre - $224,700 total.
For additional information, please contact Dave Jones@ 864-616-8888.
There is also a single residential building lot adjacent to the 6.42 acres. Tax Map Number 0438000101100. $24,000, same contact person.

Home Works is Looking for Volunteers to Help Columbia Flood Victims

Home Works of America has announced a task force that will act in December to help repair the homes of flood victims in Columbia. They need volunteers to help supervise the work. Please see their press release with more details below:

December 28-30 - In response to the historic flooding in October 2015, Home Works of America in partnership with the Building Industry Association and St. Bernard Project has repurposed the December home repair session and will designate all efforts to address the needs of flood victims who have not received help. Volunteers needed for supervision of job sites and preliminary assessments and repair of mechanical systems of selected homes. For more information click here or contact R.B. Gallup, BIA Task Force Member.

More than $110,000 has been donated by individuals, corporations, and foundations - which will be used to offset materials/supplies and direct costs for these repairs.

For more information about the goals of the Task Force (including United Way of the Midlands, Mungo Homes, AARP of SC, Habitat for Humanity, the BIA of Central SC, the Electric Cooperatives of SC) as well as key donor partners without which none of this would be possible, please contact Jim Powell, Executive Director. Press releases with specific information will be forthcoming.

Time is Running Out to Save on IBS Tickets

NAHB's International Builders' Show (IBS) is a three day event where members of the building industry have countless opportunities to learn and network. Taking place January 19-21 in Las Vegas, there are multiple benefits of attending, ten of which you can find here. There will also be a presidential candidates forum where they will be asked about questions pertaining to the building industry.

If you want to attend, buy your tickets before November 20 and get them at a discounted rate. Also, members receive a discount so speak up about your membership! For more information about the show and the amazing opportunities it offers, click here.

Thank You PAC Donors

We would like to thank everyone who has donated to the Political Action Committee this year:

Brittany Bailey

J. Coleman Shouse

Eric Hendrick

Jason Bergeron

Mike Freeman

Jon Statom

Michael Dey

Jamie McCutchen

Richard Powers

Matt Shouse

Michael Galloway

Hal Dillard

Rick Quinn

Bob Barreto

Ron Tate

James Speer

We would also like to thank everyone who came to the PAC dinner last night, including Mayor Dennis Raines and his wife. The attendees enjoyed fine wine and delicious food at Rick Quinn's home at our annual event to celebrate PAC donors.

We would love to see you next year at the annual PAC dinner. Be sure to donate $250 or more to the PAC, helping us to create relationship with law makers in order to make your job and our industry better.

Habitat for Humanity and HBA Partner to Help Greer Family

On February 13, the HBA of Greenville and Habitat for Humanity of Greenville need your help! Your HBA has partnered with Habitat of Greenville to rehabilitate and weatherize a family's home in Greer. With donations and volunteers from HBA of Greenville members, we can knock this project out in a day or two. Some of the materials needed include doors, a mail box, kitchen appliances, and carpet. See below for the full list.

If you would like to help please call Crystal Yanes at the HBA office 864-254-0133 for more information.

NAHB: Greenville housing market continues to improve

The economic and housing recovery continues at a slow, but steady pace. For the country as a whole, the Leading Markets Index (LMI) rose to .93 in the third quarter of 2015, .01 point higher than its level in 2015, and .04 point higher than its level from one year ago. The index uses single-family housing permits, employment and home prices to measure proximity to a normal economic and housing market. The index is calculated for both the entire country and for 364 local markets, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). A value of 1.0 means the market (or country) is back to the last level of normality.



Greater Greenville
The Greenville area also continues to improve.  In the third quarter the index rose .02 to .94.  Permits continue to lag at .61, but housing prices are at 1.25 and jobs are at .95.  Spartanburg also is at .95, but permits have risen to a much more healthy .78.  Charleston is the only marketing in South Carolina that has returned to normal at 1.07 with permits at .80.




Nationally, all three components of the LMI contributed to the quarter-over-quarter growth in the nationwide score. Permits rose from .46 to .47, prices increased from 1.35 to 1.37, and employment rose from .96 to .97. Over the year, the permits, prices, and employment components expanded by .04, .07, and .02 respectively. Regionally, 79 of the 364 markets, 21%, have an LMI Score that is greater than or equal to 1.0 and are considered normal, up from 74 in the second quarter of 2015 and 62 last year.

While most markets do not have an Overall LMI Score that is greater than or equal to 1.0, a recovery in one or more components has taken place across a number of MSAs. For example, in 26 markets single-family permits have returned to normal. This is unchanged from the second quarter, but 5 more than last year’s total. The number of markets where house prices are considered normal was also unchanged over the quarter at 345, but it is 6 greater than the 339 markets from one year ago. Meanwhile, the number of MSAs where employment has reached or exceeded normal reached 72, up from 64 markets in the second quarter and from 40 markets one year ago.

Of the 364 MSAs included in the LMI, 56% saw their score increase over the quarter and 69% recorded year-over-year growth. According to the map above, the MSAs with the largest year-over-year increase, those markets where the annual increase in its LMI Score exceeded that of the nation as a whole, were largely located in the West and in the South, and many reside in the former “bubble” states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. As illustrated by the first map, many of the markets in these states now have an LMI score closer to the middle of the Score distribution, and off the bottom, indicating that the effects of the crisis in these MSAs are disappearing and the recovery in these markets is taking hold.

Housing Affordability Rises in Greenville, Falls Nationally

Modest home price and interest rate increases resulted in a slight drop in nationwide housing affordability in the third quarter of 2015, according to the National Association of Home Builders Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

“Attractive home prices and interest rates, along with firming job growth, are helping housing markets across the country to gradually improve,” said NAHB Chairman Tom Woods, a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo. “While this bodes well for housing in the coming year, builders continue to face challenges, including a lack of available lots and skilled labor.”

“The decline in the index was slight and affordability remains good,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “With mortgage rates near historic lows and home prices advancing at a modest pace, this is an excellent time to buy.”

In all, 62.2 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of September were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $65,800. This is down from the 63.2 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in the second quarter.

The national median home price increased slightly from $230,000 in the second quarter to $231,000 in the third quarter. Meanwhile, average mortgage rates edged higher from 3.99 percent to 4.18 percent in the same period.



Greenville and the Upstate
The index for Greater Greenville rose to 80 in the second quarter from 77.7 in the first quarter and 73.4 in the same quarter last year.  House prices rose slightly while income remained the same.  Greater Greenville ranks as the 76th most affordable housing market in the country.

Featured Markets
Syracuse, N.Y. was rated the nation’s most affordable major housing market, switching places with Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa., which fell to the second slot on the list. In Syracuse, 91.7 percent of all new and existing homes sold in this year’s third quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $68,500.

Rounding out the top five affordable major housing markets in respective order were Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.; Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.; and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Meanwhile, Glens Falls, N.Y. claimed the title of most affordable small housing market in this year’s third quarter. There, 92.6 percent of homes sold during the second quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $65,400.

Smaller markets joining Glens Falls at the top of the list included Sandusky, Ohio; Kokomo, Ind.; Springfield, Ohio; and Rockford, Ill.

For the 12th consecutive quarter, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. was the nation’s least affordable major housing market. There, just 10.5 percent of homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $103,400.

Other major metros at the bottom of the affordability chart were located in California. In descending order, they included Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale.; Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine.; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara.; and Santa Rosa-Petaluma.

All five least affordable small housing markets were also in California. At the very bottom of the affordability chart was Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif., where 16.5 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $87,000. Other small markets at the lowest end of the affordability scale included Salinas; Napa; San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles; and Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, respectively.

Please visit nahb.org/hoi for tables, historic data and details.

Editor’s Note
The Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) is a measure of the percentage of homes sold in a given area that are affordable to families earning the area’s median income during a specific quarter. Prices of new and existing homes sold are collected from actual court records by Core Logic, a data and analytics company. Mortgage financing conditions incorporate interest rates on fixed- and adjustable-rate loans reported by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The HOI is strictly the product of NAHB Economics, and is not seen or influenced by any outside party prior to being released to the public.