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Spirit
Elgin Leads the Area in New Housing Starts
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Elgin was the home building leader in the metropolitan area for 2009, with nearly 150 housing starts mostly in the western portion of the City.
“New housing was mostly in Bowes Creek, Tuscan Woods, Highland Woods, Edgewater and Creekside,” said Elgin’s Community Development Director Jerry Deering. “We’re anticipating that will continue this year as well.”
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Chris Hueckstead, Chicago Market Director for Metrostudy, a national housing and development research firm, said in September that Elgin has experienced more new housing starts than any other community in Chicagoland.
“Elgin tops the list ahead of Joliet and Plainfield,” said Huecksteadt. “And while Elgin’s numbers might be smaller, the numbers are smaller everywhere.”
The Chicago area market peaked in 2005 with 35,000 housing starts. Elgin’s mirrored the Chicago market and issued 1,484 permits that year. Within four years, however, that number dropped by 90%.
“We’re conservatively projecting about 100 new homes for 2010,” said Deering. “I base that projection on permits issued so far this year. Most permit requests occur in the spring, so it’s still a little early, but I don’t think we’ll be far off.”
Hueckstead believes the housing market has bottomed out and that the recovery should begin in 2011 – but it will be very slow.
“Elgin is positioned well when the recovery comes,” said Deering.
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