LifeStyle Homes – like many other Brevard County real estate and construction businesses – has a lot to be happy about. When it comes to the outlook of the housing market, good news seems to be hitting us from all directions. Take a look at some of the recent headlines we’re celebrating on the local, state, and national levels.

LOCAL LEVEL
Chances are you’ve heard the excellent news by now. A few weeks ago, the Space Coast Economic Development Commission (EDC) announced that Northrop Grumman is planning a major expansion to Brevard County. Along with this expansion will come a $500 million capital investment, as well as 1,800 jobs paying an average of $100,000 per year.

As you can imagine, this is music to the ears of us at LifeStyle Homes, just as it is to many other local businesses. The ripple effect of this expansion is set to have a positive impact on many businesses in Brevard County, especially those in the real estate and construction industry.

Since we launched our LifeStyle SunSmart℠ energy-efficiency building package in 2009, followed by our solar-powered homes in 2010, LifeStyle’s technologically advanced homes have been well received by Brevard County engineers and scientists. That’s not surprising given the fact that these homes were developed in partnership with the highly respected scientists at the Florida Solar Energy Center. That said, as we begin to welcome the new wave of Northrop Grumman engineers, scientists, and other professionals to Brevard County, we’re looking forward to building “homes of the future” for these individuals and their families.

STATE LEVEL
In late April, the Florida TaxWatch Economic Report stated that “over the last year, there has been an average of more than 4,600 housing starts monthly in our state. Privately-owned housing starts in Florida have grown, and are now more than double the rate of the recent low point in March 2009, when only 1,806 private single housing units were started in the entire state of Florida.”

While this is no doubt good news for Florida home builders like LifeStyle, what’s more significant is that these numbers indicate a healthy statewide economy.

Even better, the Florida TaxWatch report cited that the Florida & Metro Forecast for 2014-2017 indicates this upward trajectory is predicted to continue in the coming years. More specifically, single-family housing starts are forecasted to double between the years of 2013 and 2016. Multi-family housing starts, as well as commercial construction, are also slated to increase over the next few years, meaning even more jobs for all Floridians. How great is that?

NATIONAL LEVEL
Expanding the concept of construction to careers to the national level, we were also happy to read that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is reporting impressive numbers when it comes to job creation spurred by the construction industry. In fact, the home building and remodeling industry generated 274,000 direct and indirect jobs over the past 2.5 years, according to NAHB.

Taking a closer look, NAHB’s analysis of the broad impact of new construction shows that building 1,000 average single-family homes generates:

  • 2,970 full-time jobs
  • $162 million in wages
  • $118 million in business income
  • $111 million in taxes and revenue for state, local and federal governments

The NAHB also reports that 2014 is poised to be the first year since 2007 in which total housing starts exceed 1 million homes!

While these local, state, and national headlines give us a LifeStyle a reason to smile, much more importantly, they signify wonderful things happening in Brevard County, the state of Florida, and America as a nation. We’ve all worked hard to get here – let’s enjoy it.