According to the readers of the Union Tribune Best 2011 poll:

Brookfield Homes is the Best New Home Builder in San Diego …. and

Rockrose (by Brookfield Homes) is the Best New Home Community in San Diego …. and

Mahogany (also by Brookfield Homes) is the 5^th Best New Home Community is San Diego …. and

Winding Walk (Trellis and Cordova, also by Brookfield Homes) is the 6^th Best New Home Community in San Diego!

Congratulations and thank you to all Brookfield employees, consultants and subcontractors for making Brookfield Homes the Number 1 builder in San Diego County.  And, thank you to all our loyal Brookfield Homes buyers for telling all the of residents of San Diego County what you already know and experience …. Brookfield Homes is the BEST!

I am proud to say the Brookfield Homes is a Finalist for the 2011 Best New Home Builder and Rockrose at The Foothills is a Finalist for the 2011 Best New Home Community.  We would welcome your participation in the Best of San Diego voting and encourage you to vote for Brookfield Homes and Rockrose at The Foothills every day!

Thank you for all your support!

Zandy points to San Diego as a prime example, where just 921 new free standing homes are for sale or under construction as of March 2011.  In a market where the normalized demand is 9,000+, the current number represents only 10% of what a market should provide.  Estimated at approximately 5 months inventory today, the 921 new homes represents less than 2 months supply in a normal year.  And, when taking into consideration the lack of new construction over the past 4 years, Zandi predicts that prices will increase in line with the recent increases in rental rates.

Karl Case looks at housing as “the little engine that could.”  It keeps chugging along, keeping the boiler warm.  Builders know when the confidence returns, buyers will be looking to get into new homes quickly before the prices go up.  That’s when the engine will need to fire up and production will start again.  For San Diego, that time is now.

Mike Castleman declares, “I’m a dirt-road economist who sees what’s happening on the ground, and in 35 years I’ve never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I’m seeing today.  The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses.  And, in most markets the price of new homes is fixin’ to rise, not fall.”

The numbers just don’t lie.  Production is at an all-time low and the ability of builders to “ramp up” is limited by entitlement and development processing regulations that are getting more difficult and more time consuming. 

Interest rates for 30 year fixed mortgages are still below 5%.

The California Department of Finance also estimates that San Diego added over 30,000 people as residents last year.  And, estimates that San Diego has grown by an average of over 40,000 per year since 2000!

Job growth is back, nationally and specifically here in San Diego.  The California Employment Development Department reports that San Diego new jobs grew by 4,700 in the month of February and over 19,000 new jobs have been added since February of 2010.  These are good paying jobs, primarily in the Professional and Business Service sector.

The average price of a home is up, year over year and for the last three year straight!  When you look into the detail of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, only two markets in the country can make this claim, San Diego and Washington DC.  Many experts point to San Diego as one of the first metropolitan areas to experience the recent recession.  Pricing and absorptions peaked in the Summer of 2005.  It is also evident that San Diego is one of the first markets to show signs of recovery.

So, low prices, low mortgage interest rates, good job growth, strong population growth and a lack of new home inventory … the only thing missing in San Diego today is you, as a new home buyer!

Entry level homes in the Brookfield Master Planned community of Winding Walk led the way.  Great homes in the Chula Vista Elementary School District starting in the $290’s have the South County of San Diego buzzing!

Luxury homes in the Brookfield Master Planned communities of Stonebridge Estates and Old Creek Ranch have wonderful floorplans, tremendous values and North County home buyers talking “their dream homes”.

Cutting edge, sustainable development that is seemlessly incorporated into Brookfield’s signature design excellence, has home buyers and experts snapping up the great values and awarding the Eco-Savvy Rockrose community new awards on a weekly basis!

If you are in the market for a new home, or just wondering what all the excitement is about, visit our web page or tour our model homes and see for yourself why smart shoppers are buying a Brookfield Home!

Business and Professional Services led the way with 1,800 new jobs created in the month of February and 10,700 new jobs since February of 2010.  Professional, scientific and technical services continue to lead the job classification increases in this category, supporting the employment numbers with higher paying jobs.  Over 214,000 jobs are counted in the Business and Professional Services category this month, climbing back towards its peak number of 225,700 jobs in August of 2007.

On the other side of this coin, Construction jobs continue to fall.  Another 100 construction jobs were lost in February of 2011, bringing the total of construction jobs down to 53,200 Countywide.  Construction jobs peeked at over 95,100 in June of 2006.  This month’s decrease brings the total reduction to 44% in the number of employed people in the construction job categories over the last 4.5 years.

With positive economic news coming from many different sectors today, we can only hope that the strength in new employment will soon translate to new Construction jobs and the revitalization of the real estate construction industry.

In the category of the Best Single Family Home in the 3,000 to4,000 sf range, the Residence 3 at Rockrose is presented the Gold Award and the Residence 2 at Rockrose is presented the Silver Award.

“For more than 25 years, the Best in American Living Awards, also commonly known as BALA, have raised the bar for design excellence in the building industry and highlighted those builders, architects, interior designers, remodelers, developers and land planners who have achieved superior levels of creativity and innovation,” according to NAHB.

Nice praise for an Eco-Savvy home.  Who says you can’t have superior design and sustainable construction in the same home?  Certainly not the happy homeowners at Rockrose, nor the judges from the Best in American Living Awards program.

Congrats to all the team members that made Rockrose the best of the best!

The award was presented to Brookfield for its work in sustainable development and energy efficiency in home construction.  Our new Foothills community, Rockrose, is being constructed in Carlsbad.  The Eco-Savvy Rockrose is 35% more energy efficient than required by Title 24, the California Energy Efficiency Regulations for Residential Construction.  Rockrose is also focuses on water conservation, indoor air quality, recycling of construction materials and renewable resource use.  For all these Eco-Savvy factors, the Chamber of Commerce selected Rockrose and Brookfield Homes for their Environmental Spirit award.

Rockrose has been collecting other awards as well.  Home buyers and business professionals alike are recognizing Eco-Savvy design as the preferred way to provide high quality design, high quality construction and environmental sensitivity at an economic price.  Stop by and see for yourself why Eco-Savvy s the way to go!

Brookfield San Diego fans are encouraged to share ideas, thoughts on our products and comments about their experiences with a new Brookfield Home.  Check out our Wall and see what your friends and neighbors are saying about us.

Then take some time to look over our website www.BrookfieldSD.com.  Come back to our Wall and share your thoughts!  We appreciate the feedback!

Recently, FHA issued a new Mortgagee Letter (ML 2011-03) that clarifies and extends some of the most challenging changes to the Temporary Condominium Guidelines published November 6, 2009 (ML 2009-46A).  These modifications are due in part to the continued stress on the home building industry and the impact to potential home buyers created by the financial markets meltdown.

ML 2011-03 extends the earlier Guidelines for all FHA case numbers assigned through June 30, 2011.  Specifically, the Presale requirement will be maintained at 30%, not increased to 50%.  The Concentration requirement will be preserved at 50% for new projects and not reduced to 30%.  And, the Concentration requirement will remain at 100% for previously approved projects.

These are key developments for home builders and home buyers.  For more specifics, please refer to the identified Mortgagee Letters or contact your FHA approved mortgage lender.