NJ home building - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

MAY 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Home construction in New Jersey has gotten off to a slower start this year, with builders starting 5,352 units in the first quarter, down 8.3 percent from a year earlier.

But Patrick O’Keefe, an economist with CohnReznick in New York and Roseland, expects builders to rev up construction later this year, giving the homebuilding sector “its best performance since 2006.” O’Keefe is forecasting that about 30,000 housing units will be started in the Garden State in 2015, compared with 28,119 in 2014.

Multifamily activity will continue to provide momentum for home construction in the state, O’Keefe said. In the first quarter, multifamily construction made up 59 percent of the building permits issued in New Jersey.

“We will be looking at multifamily as the dominant driver,” he said. For the past several years, well over half the construction in the state has been in multifamily projects — especially rentals, concentrated in Bergen, Hudson and other northeastern New Jersey counties.

One example is Hudson Lights in Fort Lee, a mixed-use project being built just south of the George Washington Bridge. Its first stage, expected to be finished at the end of this year, will include 276 rental units. A second stage, expected to be completed in 2018, will include 201 housing units.

The developer, Chicago-based Tucker Development Corp., sees continuing demand for rentals, especially in neighborhoods where stores, restaurants and transit are within walking distance.

Young people starting out in their careers want “the ability to be more mobile,” said CEO Richard Tucker.

Economists also note that many younger adults are renting, rather than buying, because it’s difficult to qualify for mortgages and because they are wary about investing in a home after seeing values crater during the housing crash.

Adding to the demand for rentals, Tucker said, are empty nesters who decide they don’t need large houses anymore.

The national homeownership rate is 63.7 percent, the lowest level since 1993. The rate had exceeded 69 percent in 2004 as mortgage lenders loosened their credit standards and lent to many people who couldn’t afford the payments and ended up losing their homes.

Homebuilders’ slow start this year is only temporary, O’Keefe said, citing the complex planning and approval process involved in multifamily projects.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/n-j-home-building-is-off-to-a-slow-start-1.1324886

https://www.northjerseyprobuilders.com/ridgewood-nj-07450-general-contractor.html

NJ home building on track for best year since 2006

November 28, 2014 Last updated: Friday, November 28, 2014, 1:21 AM
By KATHLEEN LYNN

* Rentals lead way, thanks to tight mortgage standards, flat incomes

Powered by a surge in multifamily construction, home building in New Jersey is on track for its strongest year since 2006.

Builders have taken out 23,738 building permits through October, up 18 percent from the same period last year, according to data released this week from the U.S. census — and more than 60 percent of the permits have been for multi-family units. The multifamily percentage is the highest since 1964, said Patrick O’Keefe, an economist with CohnReznick, an accounting firm in New York and Roseland. As recently as the 1990s, multifamily projects accounted for about 15 percent of the home construction in the state.

O’Keefe expects builders to start more than 27,000 housing units in the state this year — coming close to the long-term averages above 30,000 a year, after dipping to lows averaging around 13,000 a year during the housing bust.

Rentals are leading the way, especially along the Hudson River. Bergen and Hudson counties have accounted for about 30 percent of the state’s home-building activity so far this year, heavily weighted toward multifamily construction.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/multifamily-housing-may-give-n-j-a-banner-home-building-year-1.1143006