Master Builders Association Announces 2011 Remodeling Excellence Awards Recipients

Rex Award Winners, Photo by James Reuter

The Master Builders Association of Pierce County and the Remodelors™ Council held the 15^th annual Remodeling Excellence Awards (REX) on May 24^th at the Fircrest Golf Club. The remodelers were judged by outside home building associations on the quality, use of appropriate materials and designs, creativity and workmanship of their projects. The Master Builders Association of Pierce County would like to congratulate the following winners:

American Dream Design Build

Jim Burbridge, Scott Overby 

• Outdoor Living Over $40k
• Residential Addition $75k-150k
•  Whole House $150k-500k

Hill Custom Homes

Jeff Hill

• Bathroom Under $25k
• Kitchen $30k-60k

Mike Schwartz Construction, Inc.

Mike Schwartz

• Residential Exterior Under $25k 
• Residential Addition Under $75k

M.R. Construction, Inc.

Matt Rock

•  Kitchen Over $125k

MRF Construction, Inc.

Mike and Carolin Fast 

• Bath $25k- 75k

Phase II General Contractor, Inc.

Rick Hjelm

• Bath Remodel Over $75k

Rainier Construction and Remodeling

Clive Ebsen 

• Residential Addition over $150k

Reier Construction, LLC

Tom Reier 

• Kitchen  $60k-125k

Renewal Remodels and Additions

George Eide, Troy Rideb

• Kitchen under $30K 
• Specialty Open  
• Whole House $75k-150k 
• Whole House $150-500k 
• Universal Design

Sockeye Homes

Kristen and Todd Sakai 

• Built Green Project
• Interior Design/Space Planning

Wind River Homes

Kent Arola

• Commercial Remodel Under $100k

The Master Builders Association of Pierce County (MBA) is a non-profit trade association comprised of more than 850 home building professionals and related service providers, employing over 10,000 people in Pierce County. The MBA's purpose is to promote through membership involvement, legislative action, networking and education, the opportunity for affordable housing to all while striving to maintain the highest ethical standards.

NAHB Forecast- Slow but Steadily Up

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) presented its Spring Construction Forecast on April 27th.  The three economists involved, David Crowe (NAHB), Robert Denk (NAHB) and Mark Zandi (Moody’s), all had a similar message; the housing side of the building industry is moving forward, but slowly.  A full recovery is predicted 2014-2015.
     As it has been the case since last fall, most experts predict that the bottom of the market has been reached and that recovery is now a matter of time and scale. Availability of financial lending to builders and developers continues to be a major factor for the new construction sector; home mortgage lending criteria are stricter now, resulting in a prediction that when people do move back into the housing market there will be a higher demand for rentals than in the past.

Current Conditions:
The economists all believe the other sectors of economy will pull housing out of recession, not vice versa, which is the normal process historically. This is because of a couple of different factors: foreclosures are still heavily affecting the market, lack of significant positive information on the economy is still affecting consumer confidence, and nearly 2 million new households did not form during the recession that would have in a “normal” economy.

Washington’s Conditions
Housing conditions are largely affected by where you live, with the worst of the housing crisis affecting California, Nevada, Florida and some areas of the Midwest. As a state, Washington is predicted by NAHB to be at 60 percent of “normal” (2000-2003) annual housing production levels by the end of 2011 and at 82 percent by the end of 2012 - as long as construction lending becomes more available. Washington home prices are also expected to drop by another 5% in 2011, but still range in a “normal” (‘00-‘03) price levels.  Ongoing foreclosures will keep house prices declining for one more year, but it should be noted that nearly half of all foreclosures are in the most distressed states.

Single Family/Multi-Family/Remodeling
David Crowe, NAHB’s chief economist, emphasized the pent up demand for new homes in the market, stating that the past 12 months saw one third of the number of housing starts of a “normal” year.  Single Family housing prices have dropped since 2006 from a high of 4.7 on the price to personal income ratio down to 3.3 times, which is just above the historical average of 3.2. Washington State is still showing prices up to 25% above the historical ratio, explaining the predicted continued price drop in 2011.
     Multi-Family starts are up, but don’t seem to be keeping up with demand either.  Since 1995 there has been an increase of 740,000 new households, but an increase of 1 million new renter households.  Builders will need to look at attached products and apartments as a way to answer this increase in demand.  The rise in renters is attributed to an aging population, stricter mortgage lending criteria, and younger adults’ reduced interest in homeownership.
     Remodeling activity did drop since 2006 nationally, but not as far as new construction during the recession. There was an uptick in the first half of 2010, which then dropped back down to below a 10-year low.  2011 and 2012 are predicted to hold a steady uptick.

Looking towards the future
As jobs continue to grow as they have in the past few months, these housing formations are expected to grow. However, it is likely the building industry will see a surge in multi-housing first as people begin to rent new homes. It will be slow, with 2nd quarter 2011 showing a modest upward trend. All the economists agreed that we are unlikely to see a double dip in the recession, but the next 12-18 months will be modest.

Continue to follow housing trends at NAHB’s blog,  http://eyeonhousing.wordpress.com/