COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — You don't have to look far to see all of the new construction happening in and around Colorado Springs. The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department reported Thursday that 564 permits for new single-family homes were issued last month, the most in a single month since August of 2005.
"September was just so busy," said spokesman Greg Dingrando. "We've really been busy all summer long, but in September, we really saw a huge increase in our permit numbers."
Since January, some 3,641 permits for single-family homes have been issued, a 20 percent increase over this same period of time last year.
"It means that we are going to be seeing a very busy fall, a busy winter, and probably a busy spring of 2021," Dingrando said.
"When you see these kinds of numbers, it means a lot of construction is on the way."
The builders believe part of the reason so many people are buying new homes is that the resale market is so competitive in Colorado Springs.
"We have been at historically low inventory numbers on the MLS for a protracted period of time," said Doug Stimple, CEO of Classic Homes.
He explained that in a typical year, between 6,000 and 8,000 homes are listed for sale on the market in the Pikes Peak Region.
"We've been bouncing between 800 and 1,800," Stimple said.
With such low inventory, buyers are getting into bidding wars to purchase homes driving up prices. It's reached a point that building a new home is now competitive with the average sale price of existing homes.
Stimple also thinks that buyers are attracted to new construction because it gives them more flexibility to customize the finishes they want in their home and that new technologies are making homes more efficient saving money on utilities.
"I think all of those factors, in light of the circumstances we've all been living since March of this year, I think those are pushing more and more people to consider building new," Stimple added.
All the new construction is expanding the city's urban area farther north and south. The more popular areas for new home construction have been in the northeast part of Colorado Springs in neighborhoods like Cordera, Flying Horse, Wolf Ranch and North Fork. Another popular area for new home construction has been south in the Security-Widefield area in neighborhoods like Lorson Ranch.
