Living the American dream New homes continue to be built in Austin, despite weak housing economy By TRISHA MARCZAK trisha.marczak@austindailyherald.com
Eleven families set out in 2010 to build their dream homes in Austin. While that number may be down from previous years, there are still some out there making their dreams come true. Community Development Director Craig Hoium said new homes built in Austin are typically designed for the family at hand, rather than those designed by companies seeking to build and sell new “spec” homes. “Most of our homes that were built were custom built,” Hoium said. “Other communities might build 20 spec homes, but that was never the case in Austin. We have a more conservative approach with new home construction.” In 2009, 13 new homes were built — down from 15 constructed in 2008. That’s comparable to surrounding communities, even those that were known for building spec homes. In 2010, Hoium said Owatonna came in with around 14 new homes. That’s down from the town’s previous average of 100 new homes, prior to the economic downturn. Even when times were good in the housing market, Austin averaged around 40 homes. The high for Austin was set with 67 new homes in the early 2000s.
Trisha Marczak/trisha.marczak@austindailyherald.com Eleven new homes were built in Austin this year, including a handful of houses in the new Nature Ridge housing project, located near the Hormel Nature Center.
The sizes of the homes has also decreased along with the multitude of homes. “I would say, back when times were good, homes
constructed ranged more from $300,000 to $500,000, where now it’s more in the $25000 to $300,000 range,” Hoium said.