Nations Building News
(Taken from article week of November 10th by the same title)
More than 500 South Carolina home builders and building professionals held a
rally on the steps of the State House in Columbia last month to heighten consumer
and media awareness of the state’s healthy housing market.
“I believe South Carolina’s home building is in better shape than most states
to recover,” said Dr. Doug Woodward, the director of research and professor of
economics at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.
“The deep housing problems that we hear about are in Florida, California and
even Atlanta,” he said to residents and reporters at the rally. “South Carolina
has less toxic subprime mortgages than most states. Actually, South Carolina has
few fundamental problems with mortgages.”
Speakers at the rally, sponsored by the Home Builders Association of South Carolina, Manufactured Housing Institute of South Carolina, Affordable Housing Coalition of South Carolina and South Carolina Mortgage Brokers Association, also pointed out that the state’s strong housing market featured quality, affordable
homes that meet the needs of families across the economic spectrum.
Even during the economic downturn, the state has continued to enjoy modest home
price appreciation — with inland metropolitan areas such as Columbia and Greenville
performing particularly well. South Carolina also has had less exposure to subprime
mortgages and fewer home foreclosures than most states, rally organizers said.
“Yes, underwriting guidelines have tightened,” said Robert Dozier, chief operating
officer and managing director of Homeowners Mortgage Enterprises, a subsidiary of CoastalStates Bank, and former director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. “But now more than ever, we need to get back to creating true partnerships
between home builders and lenders.”
Programs through the state and federal government are helping to keep the state’s
housing market strong, rally organizers said. The recently-enacted federal tax
credit of as much as $7,500 for first-time home buyers and efforts of the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority to provide downpayment assistance have helped increase homeownership in South
Carolina in recent months.
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Viola Neighborhood