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Yes, it's still getting more crowded here

The housing market is still exploding, with central Pasco seeing the majority of the growth.

By JAMES THORNER
Published January 5, 2006

In a Pasco County housing market that's been running on rocket fuel, the latest home building numbers are hanging in high orbit.

For 2005, Pasco dispensed permits for 7,252 single-family homes, shattering by 15 percent the old record of 6,300 permits from 2004.

Multifamily housing - apartments, duplexes, villas and townhomes - accounted for another 1,292 permits.

Mobile homes are no longer king of the county as in decades past, but 722 permits were issued for them as well.

The county's central permitting office released the figures this week.

Anyone who has danced the taillight tango at traffic-jammed intersections or spotted backhoes breaking up orange groves knows the numbers don't lie.

Pasco competes with south Hillsborough County's Riverview community to be the suburb of choice for the Tampa Bay area.

Miles of developable ranch land, relatively easy commutes to jobs in Tampa and historically low interest rates have helped stoke a hot housing market.

With the near build-out of west Pasco's sprawling Trinity community, central Pasco registered the bulk of the growth.

Ballantrae, northeast of State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway, led the pack in 2005, followed by the Meadow Pointe and Seven Oaks neighborhoods in Wesley Chapel.

The permit totals might have been much higher had the county been quicker about approving builders' plans, said Marvin Rose, a regional housing analyst.

"Builders told me they could have sold 50 percent more homes if the county let them do so," Rose said.

Last year's home market defied the expectations of many experts who predicted rising interest rates would starve the building beast.

But the region's economy has proved surprisingly strong, producing more than 33,000 jobs through Sept. 30. Unemployment fell below 4 percent, far better than the national average.

For most of 2005, high demand and tight supply meant houses were hard to come by. New homes and resales generally sold in days, if not hours. By October, the average closing price of a single-family home reached $275,850.

The first signs of sluggishness appeared in the fall. Inventory accumulated on new home lots, and builders started dangling bonuses to real estate agents who brought them customers.

Nevertheless, 2006 promises to be another strong year.

Pasco tallied some of its highest numbers in December, issuing permits for 683 single-family houses. Those late-year permits will let builders start laying slabs during the mild, dry months ahead.

New communities are coming on line in droves. The biggest is Connerton, east of U.S. 41 in Land O'Lakes. Connerton has sold the first of what could be more than 8,000 homes.

Another development in the Suncoast Parkway/SR 54 corridor, Concord Station, is gearing up to sell 1,500 homes, picking up where Ballantrae left off.

Neighborhoods such as Country Walk, New River, Watergrass and Palm Pointe are revving up the market in Wesley Chapel.

Rose suspects home appreciation, reflected in new home prices, could slow a bit in 2006. But don't expect the builders and buyers to go away.

"It won't slow down. Not in Pasco, especially in Pasco," Rose said.

The number of permits for single-family homes that Pasco County issued in the past five years:

2005 7,252

2004 6,300

2003 5,883

2002 4,786

2001 3,859

Source: Pasco County Central Permitting Office

[Last modified January 5, 2006, 01:18:19]