By the numbers
6 acres: Total land in development
$250,000: Cost of land for Sunny Ridge
$4 million: Cost of total subdivision project
22: Number of homes to be built
A local Realtor and builder will team up to construct a nearly $4 million subdivision — the largest single-family home building project in recent years.
Sunny Dhingra of Roediger Realty purchased Friday nearly six acres of property off Middle Urbana Road for about $250,000.
Dhingra wants to build 22 single family homes that start at $159,900 and have two stories, three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in the subdivision to be called Sunny Ridge.
The only other comparable market-rate building project in the past two of three years has been the 150 rental units at Spring Meadow Apartments, said Kent Sherry, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Clark County.
Dan Kegley Construction is the main contractor for the new subdivision.
The subdivision is “something that’s needed and there’s a lot of faith being put in to this that it will be successful,” Kegley said. “We feel with the numbers that we’ve come up with between Sunny Dhingra and myself that the price point is a win-win situation for everyone including the buyer.”
The homes have a set floor plan but Dhingra plans to pre-sell homes to allow for customization.
“Everybody wants to build these mansions, but real people want brand new homes,” Dhingra said. “They can’t spend $1 million on a home.”
The land was formerly part of a Northridge Subdivision owned by Hoppes Builders. Hoppes officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but the company has closed.
Ten homes are already built on Crandall Lane in the subdivision. Dhingra said he plans on matching the new homes’ facades to the ones already built for a cohesive look.
“Next week I will see each (homeowner) personally,” Dhingra said. “This will appreciate the value of their homes, not depreciate it.”
Local experts say home building and real estate is slowly improving.
“There is a pent up demand for single family homes,” Sherry said. “Over the years since the Great Recession took hold many families have had to double up and the adult kids move in. As the economy strengthens and people go back to work, they’re going to want their own homes.”
Sherry added that interest rates for new homes are at an all-time low at 3.3 percent or 3.5 percent.
The local market needs more houses, said Jerome Vinson, Springfield Board of Realtors president.
The inventory of available homes — or the number of available houses divided by the amount typically sold per month — is only five months, according to the Springfield Board of Realtors. A healthy inventory is nine months, Vinson said, and during the recession inventory was 14 to 15 months.
“We have turned a corner with regards to what the housing market is doing, and we are seeing some of the prices increase,” Vinson said.
Houses in Springfield typically sell around the $100,000 or $105,000 range, Vinson said.
“So these houses that (Dhingra is) building are a little bit above the current average price,” Vinson said. “But we do have a need because there’s a niche out there for houses in that $159,000 to $160,000 price range.”
Sherry said a chance remains the market could tighten up again.
“It could turn around simply because of the indecisiveness of Congress,” Sherry said. “Mainly what they are allowing to promote for home builders and discounts for renewable energy. Until those decisions are made, I would not want to go and build (speculative) houses.”
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