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RIFLE, COLORADO - While the city of Rifle, Colorado has not felt the hit of a sluggish economy as bad as the rest of the nation, housing construction - especially residential - has significantly slowed down this year.
According to Matt Sturgeon, assistant city manager, there were 160 building permits issued between January and September 2007. There have been 16 issued this year during the same time frame.
"I think it's the inability of people to get financing and the inability of developers to get financing to build new homes," Sturgeon said. "We believe there is still a very strong market for rental units, so we don't know why (developers) aren't building rental units."
Jay Rickstrew, president of Alpine Bank-Rifle, said there has definitely been a slow down in construction lending.
"It's probably the slowest year of construction lending I've seen since 1996," Rickstrew said.
"Mortgage lending is so tight. But I think we're better off here than the rest of the country. Our rental market is still strong and the jobs in the area is part of it."
Although Alpine Bank has a mortgage division, it is not big into mortgage lending and typically sells the loans it makes.
"But right now we're not seeing a lot of requests (for mortgage loans)," Rickstrew said.
Sally Brands, general contractor at Savage Land Co. of Rifle, said she has only obtained six building permits so far this year.
"That's the least I've pulled in 10 years," she said. "Basically, we're seeing a real slow down in people buying houses."
Brands said she attributes it to people being hesitant about the housing market, the inability of people to get loans and people who may qualify for loans but don't have a sufficient down payment.
"It's much harder to buy a house now with less down payment," Brands said. "The whole problem is that the Wall Street thing probably won't apply to us, but it's got a whole lot of people worried."
She added it is very difficult to build houses in the rental market because it's risky, and oftentimes hard for investors to make their money back.
Brands said she hopes things settle down in the housing market over the winter, when it's typically a hard time to sell a house anyway.
"I anticipate that it will pick up again in March or April," she said.
As far as homeowners in Garfield County facing foreclosures at the same rate as the rest of the nation, only time will tell.
"It will be four to five months before we know," Brands said. "But as long as people have a job and are handling their mortgage, I don't see a lot of foreclosures in Garfield County. We'll wait and see what happens in the spring."
According to Matt Sturgeon, assistant city manager, there were 160 building permits issued between January and September 2007. There have been 16 issued this year during the same time frame.
"I think it's the inability of people to get financing and the inability of developers to get financing to build new homes," Sturgeon said. "We believe there is still a very strong market for rental units, so we don't know why (developers) aren't building rental units."
Jay Rickstrew, president of Alpine Bank-Rifle, said there has definitely been a slow down in construction lending.
"It's probably the slowest year of construction lending I've seen since 1996," Rickstrew said.
"Mortgage lending is so tight. But I think we're better off here than the rest of the country. Our rental market is still strong and the jobs in the area is part of it."
Although Alpine Bank has a mortgage division, it is not big into mortgage lending and typically sells the loans it makes.
"But right now we're not seeing a lot of requests (for mortgage loans)," Rickstrew said.
Sally Brands, general contractor at Savage Land Co. of Rifle, said she has only obtained six building permits so far this year.
"That's the least I've pulled in 10 years," she said. "Basically, we're seeing a real slow down in people buying houses."
Brands said she attributes it to people being hesitant about the housing market, the inability of people to get loans and people who may qualify for loans but don't have a sufficient down payment.
"It's much harder to buy a house now with less down payment," Brands said. "The whole problem is that the Wall Street thing probably won't apply to us, but it's got a whole lot of people worried."
She added it is very difficult to build houses in the rental market because it's risky, and oftentimes hard for investors to make their money back.
Brands said she hopes things settle down in the housing market over the winter, when it's typically a hard time to sell a house anyway.
"I anticipate that it will pick up again in March or April," she said.
As far as homeowners in Garfield County facing foreclosures at the same rate as the rest of the nation, only time will tell.
"It will be four to five months before we know," Brands said. "But as long as people have a job and are handling their mortgage, I don't see a lot of foreclosures in Garfield County. We'll wait and see what happens in the spring."
