Page 6 - GSABA Builder Brief June 2020

JEFF CZAR President
Builders See Traffic Increase
as Texas Re-Opens
The past few months have been a challenge for our nation, community, families and the homebuilding industry. We were extremely fortunate that home construction and remodeling was deemed an essential business during this pandemic. Not only did it keep most residential construction workers on the job, it has helped many homebuilding companies learn how to survive and succeed during a crisis.
I had an opportunity to visit with Jack Inselmann recently, Sr. VP with MetroStudy, and he shared some interesting market data with me. Jack said that he had a more optimistic feeling based on the slight improvement that builders saw in their traffic and sales each week since the middle of April. He shared at the Housing Forecast in January that Texas and specifically San Antonio, were online to have a solid year in starts and sales and January, February and early March proved just that.
When COVID 19 took hold in the middle of March, builders were hit hard. Sales started to slow, and the low point came around Easter. Since then Jack shared that builder’s traffic and the conversion rate for new home sales has improved. He said that sales expectations should increase as housing and the economy rebounds. This is good news for all of us.
Low interest rates are helping to sustain the demand for new homes. As Governor Abbott lifts the stay-at-home orders in the coming weeks and more furloughed workers return to their jobs, we are hopeful that new home demand will strengthen. As we look to the future, high unemployment and building material availability could be an issue. We will be tracking mortgage applications and traffic over the next few weeks and will share relevant information with you in the Builder Brief and on GSABA’s website.
Each of us can make sure buyers have the knowledge and access to our homes for sale through innovative measures such as social media, virtual tours and online closings. The demand for home offices and exercise rooms will grow as people make major shifts in how they spend their time. New homes will have an appeal and communities with outdoor amenities will be a selling point.
We are also seeing jurisdictions in our 22-county area adapting to the new
environment with new virtual inspection rules. We are encouraged that the City of San Antonio has a goal to increase virtual inspections and re-inspections to 20% over the next several months. We hope that other municipalities follow suit.
We have rescheduled several events and hope to see you very soon. Please review the calendar on page 30 of this magazine.
We are here for you during these uncertain times. Thank you for being a member of GSABA. Sincerely,
Low interest rates are helping to sustain the demand for
new homes.
6
JUNE 2020 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION
FROM THE PRESIDENT