New home construction increases during pandemic

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The pandemic isn’t slowing down every part of the economy.

Bowling Green developers have seen a large increase in the number of people wanting to build homes. This is following the trend nationwide, as new home construction has increased by about 22%. 

One reason for this is that “work from home” allows flexibility on where someone wants to live. 

The Builders Association of South Central Kentucky’s Chief Executive Officer Anita Napier says people can really pinpoint where they want their home.

“You suddenly realized home can be anywhere. I don’t have to live five minutes close to the office now. I can go out and get that country home that I’ve been wanting forever. So we have that kind of group that’s kind of leaving the city. Plus they’re tired of being crammed into apartments and stuff so they’re looking for new construction,” said Napier. 

Another reason is the currently low interest rates, which allows people to get more house for their money. Owner of The Jones Company of KY Home Builders, Kerry Jones, has seen this firsthand. 

“They’re in the two and a half to three percent which we haven’t seen in a very long time and hopefully they’ll stay that way. So then these people that were planning on building or talking about building, with the interest rates being as low as they are, decided to go ahead and build,” said Jones. 

Both Napier and Jones said they expect people to keep building homes in Bowling Green as the location, economy and community draw people in. 

And the construction of one single-family home creates three jobs, $90,000 in tax revenue, $145,000 in wage income and $86,000 in net business income, helping the economy.