Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | June 11, 2018 | wbjournal.com Fewer new homes Even as demand is climbing, homebuilding remains far below state, national and historic rates F O C U S A R C H I T E C T U R E & C O N S T R U C T I O N BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor I n 2004, with a strong economy and housing market, communities in the Worcester metropolitan area approved 3,692 new homes for construction. Last year, the area approved less than half that number. New homes aren't being built at nearly the rate they used to in and around Worcester. In fact, the region hasn't kept up with statewide or national rates, ac- cording to U.S. Census housing data. Even though home prices appear to be spiking – up 9 percent in 2018 – they still remain below pre-Great Recession levels. Coupled with the high cost of materials and oen difficult zoning and building regulations, builders don't have the same financial incentive to create dwellings at the rate they once did. "We're at a 50-year low in new home starts," said Judy Patterson of Paramount Realty Group in Graon, who is the president of the Realtors Association of Central Massachusetts. "We're at a 30-month low in inventory. It's crazy. And the demand is definitely there." Metropolitan Worcester – the nation's 58th largest urban area, defined by the Census as Worcester County and Wind- ham County, Conn. – approved 1,768 new homes in 2017, a drop of 52-per- cent from this century's peak in 2004. Restrictive regulations For Guy Webb, the executive director of the Home Builders & Remodelers As- sociation of Central Massachusetts, the shortage of new homes in and around Worcester is a matter of too many chal- lenges facing builders. Zoning in Massachusetts tends to be strict, severely limiting where homes can be built and how densely, Webb said. Zoning regulations vary by community, making it harder for builders to know what to expect in a given city or town. Permitting processes can be slow and onerous, he said. "It's a worsening symptom of a state- wide, decades-long disease of ever-re- strictive zoning rules and an increase in regulations affecting all types of develop- ment and construc- tion, especially residential, and especially with sin- gle-family homes," Webb said. Joseph Laydon, the town planner in Graon, said the town has tried to resolve some of these issues by rezoning land around its commuter rail station to allow for denser development, and revising its afford- able-housing plan in an effort to help bring lower-priced homes to the market. "We're trying to accommodate and promote new housing opportunities and affordable housing opportunities," Laydon said. "But it's one of those things with the market where there may be underlying forces with demand that isn't enough to spur significant increases in building activity." With 1,373 new homes since 2003, Graon has built the third-most homes in Worcester County over the past 15 years, trailing only Worcester city Top home building communities New homes from 2003-2016 Worcester Shrewsbury Grafton Holden Northborough Fitchburg Northbridge Milford Rutland Leominster 3,176 1,437 1,373 990 986 884 802 793 779 743 Source: U.S. Census Bureau Guy Webb, Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Central Mass. PHOTOS/GRANT WELKER A 15-home second phase of the Wachusett Valley Estates is now being built off Bullard Street in Holden, a town among those adding the most new housing in Worcester County.

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