Foreclosures up, but builders say market improving
SPRINGFIELD. Ore. -- The foreclosure rate in the Eugene-Springfield area is up 100 percent in just the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to RealtyTrac. Despite this, builders from the Home Builders Association say business is up.
"I have seen a pick up," said Ed McMahon, the vice president of the Home Builder Association said. "I am talking to the members (of the Home builders Association) and the phones are starting to ring. We feel like we have gone through the worst of it and are on our way back up but we say that with caution."
McMahon said it is an uphill battle and these latest numbers are only going to make it recover even more slowly because it makes potential buyers uneasy.
"Getting consumer confidence back is key," McMahon said.
"Things certainly are not the way they were a few years ago, but this year is better than last," Mike Dotson of Gansen Construction said.
His company made the switch from new homes, built to sell, to doing remodels and multi-family housing.
These numbers may just be left over aftershocks from the housing bust back in 2007. Dotson said what's turning the market around now is that people are just tired of hearing about a depressed housing market, "I think people are just done with being negative ...to some extent," Dotson said.
"I don’t know if this is the bottom or not, nobody can say that, all I can say is we are now getting more calls we are doing more remodels, and there is a lot more activity going on," Dotson said.
Both agree that just like Rome was not built in a day, it will take time to rebuild the housing market.
