Developer Victor Saad supervises the construction of a new luxury home while behind it stands a completed home called the King.
Housing starts in county follow, defy national trends
By Noreen Lewis Cochran
Rockdale Neighbor Assistant News Editor
If the U.S. housing market is declining, as the National Association of Realtors recently found, local developer Victor Saad hasn't heard about it.
"Thae market is very good so far," said Saad, president of Captin Construction and developer of the 16-lot Miller Bottom Road subdivision Wellington Creek Estates. "Most of the homes I sold before I finished."
Saad said buyers signed a contract for a new 21,000-square foot, $3.5 million home called the King during the early stages of construction.
"This one had a contract right after we finished the sheet rock," Saad said about the seven-bedroom residence with private elevator and swimming pool on three acres of property. "I like to develop for large homes."
Large custom-built luxury homes and the large incomes that accompany them - Saad's clients include engineers, doctors and retires business owners - defy all national trends, the developer said.
"The economy does not affect people who have that kind of money," Saad said. "The national trend is slow, going down. Rockdale County has many rich people moving in to it and they want larger homes."
County residential permits confirm Saad's conclusion.
The 2006 combined value of new home permits rose more than 40 percent to $180 million, up from $125 million in 2005.
"The builders are building bigger houses in this county. That's part of the reason valuations are up," said Marshall Walker, assistant director of the Rockdale County Department of Public Services and Engineering.
The county is following but exceeding - more than 20 times - the average U.S. price increase of $5,400 as new home prices climbed an average of $116,000.
"Valuations are also up because the price of land is going up," Walker said, "and the cost of materials has gone up."
Beyond cost-of-living increases, Saad said, first-time homeowners are also driving the trend by demanding higher quality materials.
"The demand is for the best now," the 40-year-old said about homes he builds in the $250,000 range for individual families. "They want something unique and the mortgage is almost as much as rent."
According to Saad, the value of those homes is already rising.
"You can get a lot in Rockdale County for that," he said. "Rockdale County has more value than other counties around it."
However, reflecting a 26 percent national decline in builders applying for permits, the county also had 15 percent fewer new housing starts - 656 in 2006 compared to 791 in 2005.
"There are at least seven subdivisions that haven't permitted yet because the housing market is saturated," Walker said. They're taking their time getting their permits because they can't sell what's out there now".
