A look ahead: Home building to pick up in Hoover in 2018 after slower 2017

Housing construction in Hoover is expected to click up a notch in 2018 after a slower 2017, according to the city’s primary developer and home builder.

Signature Homes, which typically accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the home building in Hoover, expects to build 200 to 230 houses in 2018, President Jonathan Belcher said. That compares to about 150 in 2017 and 283 in 2016, he said.

Citywide, there were 185 new homes sold in Hoover in the first 11 months of 2017, with an average price of $435,000, according to Multiple Listing Service data provided by Signature Homes. (Full December data was not yet available.) That compares with 357 new homes sold in Hoover in 2016, with an average price of $431,000.

In eastern Hoover, Signature Homes has completed 17 houses in the Brock Point community off Shelby County 41 next to Greystone and across from Shoal Creek and plans to build 35 to 40 more homes there in 2018 and the same number in 2019, Belcher said. There will be 97 houses in Brock Point when it is complete, he said. Most of the houses there are priced in the $500,000s to $700,000s, he said.

Belcher said low interest rates have continued to bolster a favorable market for both buyers and sellers. There is a lot of optimism in the economy and certainly in the real estate market in Hoover, he said. He expects home prices in Hoover to continue to show modest appreciation, he said.