For Charlotte homebuilders, activity heating up this summer

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Is the Charlotte housing bust over?

That’s what a handful of Charlotte homebuilders are saying. And it’s not just the usual marketing hooey. Builders have numbers that indicate they might be right.

In an informal Mecklenburg Times survey Thursday, builders large and small in the region reported the best summer in years.

“After the worst July in history last year, we just had our best July in the history of M/I Homes Charlotte,” said Tamara Lynch, the homebuilding giant’s vice president of sales and marketing. “And that goes back to 1985.”

Lynch, who works for the second-largest residential developer in Charlotte, backed that up with stats: The company sold 41 homes last month compared with 28 in July 2011, for an increase of 46 percent.

That news suggests that Charlotte is faring better than the national average, according to the August National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder confidence index.

The national monthly index, released Wednesday, shows that homebuilders are less worried. But they’re still plenty worried, especially about the country’s slow jobs market and high foreclosure rates.

The national index ticked up this month to 37 on a scale of 100. That’s the highest it’s been in five years. But it’s still well below 50, the benchmark that separates pessimism from optimism.

The mood in Charlotte, on the other hand, is absolutely giddy, and not just among the big builders. The little guys are smiling, too.

Alan Banks, vice president of the Home Builders Association of Charlotte, said he was “very bullish” about the local housing market and predicted he will be more so next year.

“Inventories are decreasing while volume is increasing,” said Banks, who is also one of two partners in Evans Coghill Homes. “As a builder, today versus the same time last year we have twice as many projects under construction.”

Banks said he has 17 homes under construction.

At Classica Homes, President and CEO Bill Saint said: “We are seeing a very positive buyer-level this year, as compared to last. Our sales are up 92 percent at Robbins Park in Cornelius and Christenbury in Concord. Our home prices for sales have been from $425,000 to over $800,000. We have opened two new villages at both neighborhoods and have a third under development, due to high demand.”

M/I Homes’ Lynch went so far as to declare that the housing bust is over.

“Consumers know that we have hit bottom,” Lynch said. “The consumers who were ready and able are now willing.”

Tony Brown can be reached at [email protected].