San Francisco Business Times
From the article:
With sales of new homes shooting up, homebuilders are scrambling to keep up with demand — but for some it may already be too late.
Inventory of new homes dipped to all-time lows after the 2008 real estate crash, but now that buyer demand is back, homebuilders who banked development sites and pushed projects through the entitlement process are ready.
KB Home has homes for sale in 18 communities in Northern California and plans to start 10 more communities this year.
“Our strategy has been to buy throughout the downturn,” said Chris Apostolopoulos, president of KB Home’s Bay Area division. “We’re very well-positioned. We’ve gotten out in front of other competitors.”
Apostolopoulos expects this year to be strong for new homebuilders. He characterized 2011 as the bottom; 2012 showed improvement and even major gains in some markets; 2013 is shifting toward a seller’s market. “Over the last 60 days, we’ve seen tremendous consumer confidence, buyers coming back to the market, strong demand for product and absence of inventory,” he said.
Statewide, new home construction boomed in the past year with new home starts jumping 45 percent to 31,000 units in October 2012 compared with 22,000 during the same month in 2011, according to the California Department of Finance.
Some buyers have a hard time securing mortgages, but there are enough good-credit and cash buyers to fuel new home sales, Apostolopoulos said. KB Home expects to build and sell more than 500 homes this year in the Bay Area and double its sales and development next year.