Valley builders confident in housing market, more single family permits issued this year

PEORIA, AZ - The Valley is seeing another positive sign that the housing market is moving toward recovery, with a significant increase in single family building permits in the Valley.

The number of single family permits is up 80 percent year-to-date, compared to the same period in 2011. 

Roughly 6,400 were issued around the Valley by June, according to the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona. 

Permits are used as an early sign of residential starts.

This comes on the heels of a U.S. Department of Commerce report that shows the number of residential  starts increased nationally by 24 percent in June compared to June 2011. 

There were roughly 760,000 residential starts. That's the highest level since 2008.  To put this into perspective, experts say this number is much lower than we saw in pre-recession times but it's a positive step.

K. Hovnanian, a home builder with multiple sites in the Valley, has an upcoming community in Peoria. 

Avalon at Travata will be located near 91st Avenue and Bell Road. A spokesperson said there will be 126 new homes. 

Andy Pederson, with K. Hovnanian, said they are building with a mindset that buyers in this market may want a smaller layout. There are floor plans that are just over 1,500 square feet, he said.

"More and more people are willing to downsize and not purchase as much home as they did in the past," he said.

Catherine Mahon purchased a new home at Avalon at Provence, a K. Hovnanian community in Glendale, that is still under construction.

Mahon said she lost her job last year, but fortunately was able to get another one.

She and her husband didn't want too much space, she said.

"I didn't want to pay high electricity bills," she said. "I didn't want to clean a big house," she added.

Pederson said the company is also helping homeowners who may have credit problems.

K. Hovnanian's credit enhancement program is designed to help homeowners who have had a rocky financial history.

"We'll take somebody who perhaps went through a short sale and we'll help them rebuild credit or help them along the path toward rebuilding credit," Pederson said.

Avalon at Travata is scheduled to open in September 2012.