Home construction bottoms out in 2009

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Boca Grande 2009 home permits

n 131 Damificare St., $1.9 million, 8,555 square feet, Dewey-Noller Builders Inc. of Sarasota.

n 1689 Jose Gaspar Drive, $1.7 million, 6,836 square feet, Outerbridge Construction Inc. of Englewood.

n 4140 Snail Island Court, $1.5 million, 6,569 square feet, Dewey-Noller.

n 1631 Jean Lafitte Drive, $1.3 million, 5,841 square feet, Outerbridge.

n 4541 Shore Lane, $1.2 million, 11,929 square feet, Yusk Construction Inc. of Englewood.

n 4150 Snail Island Court, $654,070, 6,885 square feet, KSI Construction Inc. of Englewood.

TOTAL: Six residences, $8.255 million, 46,615 square feet.

Source: Lee County Community Development

Lee County home permits

YearPermits

2009331

2008482

20072,252

20067,052

20059,747

20046,487

20023,335

20013,126

20002,666

New home construction in Lee County has never been this soft in this century.

2009 supplanted 2008 as the bottom of the home-building barrel with just 331 single-family residences permitted - a 31 percent drop from the 482 allowed just one year previously in Lee County.

"We don't have any economic models for prediction but it would seem we must be on the bottom," said Joan LaGuardia of Lee County Community Development permitting.

It's been five long years of freefall since the housing market began to implode after new Lee County home building peaked in 2005 with 9,747 permits. Residential home construction fell 28 percent to 7,052 in 2006 then plunged 68 percent to just 2,252 permits in 2007.

The Great Recession has thrown thousands of builders out of work and sent Florida's unemployment rate soaring into the double digits. But there is a glimmer of hope so far in 2010.

"For all of unincorporated Lee County, in our January and February reports, these are the first two months we've seen since 2006 that we've had months the same or better than previous months," LaGuardia said. "Keep in mind we've only seen two months of that. It hardly constitutes a trend."

There were 34 residential home permits issued in Lee County in January and February compared with just 13 in January 2009 and 25 in February 2009.

"Over the last five or six months there has been stability on the bottom," LaGuardia said. "Clearly we're flat at the bottom with some small signs of improvement. Even that is somewhat comforting in an economy that is really dreadful."

The 34 permits are the most in one month since 50 were issued last May.

"Residential foreclosures have leveled off," LaGuardia said. "I think it will be a long time before we see gains. But I think we can see we're at the bottom."

Jan-Feb housing permits

The Lee County housing permits for the first two months of the year dating to 2005 when the market began to implode:

YearJanuaryFebruary

20103434

20091325

20084558

2007296295

2006609696

2005694728

Source: Lee County Community Development

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