San Francisco Business Times by Blanca Torres, Reporter

Date: Friday, June 29, 2012

Homebuilders optimistic as Pacific Coast Builders Conference wraps up in San Francisco

Housing is not back to where it was say pre-recession, but the housing industry sure does feel better about itself.

That was evident at this year’s Pacific Business Coast Builders Conference that wrapped up today in San Francisco.

The annual event brings thousands of homebuilders, contractors, lenders, developers, architects, and manufacturers together to talk shop and learn about what’s next for homebuilding on the West Coast. It has been held in San Francisco for more than 50 years, but will migrate to San Diego in 2013.

This year’s conference was the first time in about five years that felt truly optimistic, said Michael Maples, principal and CEO of Trumark Homes.

Builders are back to work with home starts increasing despite continuing issues with buyers securing credit and homes going into foreclosure.

“This year, you feel like the recovery has actually started,” Maples said. “We do think development in this recovery is zip code by zip code, however.”

Hotspots are emerging in various markets, especially the Bay Area, where housing construction is booming in particular neighborhoods such as South of Market.

Today’s active builders recognize that the boom times are not coming back and shouldn’t come back to the way things were, said Tim Costello, CEO of Builder Homesite Inc., a consortium of 32 homebuilders that provides technology and marketing services.

New home construction dropped by 80 percent at its lowest point during the recession compared with the high point, and has rebounded from that point by about 15 percent, Costello said.

Demand is outstripping supply in certain areas where homebuilders are running out of inventory in new housing developments, but not all markets are recovering.

The industry is now looking at how to keep adding supply where consumers want it — near jobs and amenities — versus just finding available land and expecting people to commute long distances.

“Homebuilders are now asking, ‘How do we rebuild cities? How do you reinvent a city or metropolis?’” Costello said. “The five-year downturn in housing was the best thing that could have happened in the industry in terms of green building and sustainability.”