Custom Home Starts Increase Almost 14% Year-Over-Year
St. Tammany Parish is an “odd duck” when it comes to new home builders. In larger metro real estate markets, builders tend to build inventory or spec homes for sale which are homes based on several established floorplans that are built the same every time but offer home buyers selections such as cabinetry and countertops, flooring, and paint colors. Many mid-size to large home building companies will build in multiple 
subdivisions and have floorplans that already fit the “footprint” of the lot sizes in these neighborhoods, so that when a home buyer visits a specific community, they know that the already built spec homes and model homes that they tour will be much the same as the home that they are going to buy.
While there is nothing “wrong” with this approach to home building, builders in St. Tammany Parish are a little bit less “assembly-line” builders and very much more creative and custom builders. Our parish does not necessarily trend with the rest of metro areas in that most of the builders on the Northshore in the Greater New Orleans area build a smaller number of homes, and the homes that they build are definitely more custom. Because of this, during the Recession, building companies in St. Tammany Parish that had been established in the area for many years and had a good “word of mouth” base for advertising were able to continue to work in the industry they loved by building custom homes. According the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), this trend has continued post Recession: the number of starts of homes built on an owner’s land, with either the owner or a builder acting as the general contractor was at 48,000 during the 2nd quarter (a record high) and at 47,000 during the 3rd quarter.
This was a nationwide study, so it shows that the trend of building semi-custom and fully custom homes may have “caught on” a little during the lean times. Production builders are still a vital part of the real estate industry as they are able to offer first-time home buyers and 2nd time home buyers a quality-built product at an affordable price. However, it seems that custom homes are holding onto a part of the market that is larger than it was before the Recession.
At Bedico Creek in St. Tammany Parish, we have many of those semi-custom and fully custom home builders building new homes and new custom homes right in our master planned community. With the real estate market starting to be very active again, builders are able to follow their creative path in designing gorgeous floorplans of all shapes and sizes on the unique and view-filled lots that are sprinkled throughout our Conservation Community. If it is your dream to live amongst nature but still be able to enjoy shopping, dining, and entertainment of a regular city (Covington, Louisiana), Visit Bedico Creek to learn more about our convenient location with a variety of lots and homes from which to choose. Call 985-845-4200 or E-mail [email protected].
