Macomb Township

Macomb home construction surpasses last year’s numbers

By Robert Guttersohn
C & G Staff Writer

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — As the construction season comes to an end, Macomb has already outpaced itself in new home construction so far this year, when compared to all of 2011.

Developers filed 424 new residential building permits this year through September in Macomb, according to data collected by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

The number eclipses last year’s total of 389 and marks the fourth straight year of increased home construction for the township.

All of Macomb County saw 1,062 new permits filed for home construction through September, meaning Macomb Township alone has made up 40 percent of the year’s new residential construction.

Township Supervisor Mark Grabow said the statistic is a sign that Macomb is still one of the most desirable communities in which to live.

“This is a great thing for the bottom line when it comes to Macomb Township,” Grabow said in an email. “And it will continue to allow the community to not only provide great services at affordable rates, but may also allow us to increase the service we need from the Macomb Sheriff’s Office to grow the law enforcement presence in the township and continue to make Macomb a safer community.”

In the past, Township Clerk Michael Koehs has said he was hesitant to believe Macomb was out of the recession doldrums when it came to new housing construction. He said before the recession — back when Macomb was issuing 1,700 building permits a year — developers bought large swaths of land, built streets and laid piping for subdivisions before the recession prevented the construction of the homes on the prepared land.

Koehs said many of the development companies went out of business and sold the prepped property at a discount to other developers. Since then, much of the post-recession, new construction in Macomb has been on the cheap land. But in a sign of change, earlier in the summer, developers began construction on Strawberry Fields, a brand new subdivision.

“It’s the first indication that the foreclosed lots, the surplus of lots, are either rising in price or diminishing in quantity or both,” Koehs said.

He said steady sustainable growth in new construction is better than seeing huge spikes, as the township saw before the housing bubble burst.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Robert Guttersohn at rguttersohn@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5006.