SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The Spring Parade of Homes continues this weekend, showcasing the work of home builders all over the Sioux Empire.
While there are plenty of extravagant homes to explore on the tour, the typical starter homes on the parade this year are much different than in years past.
“The very entry starter homes are 1000 to 1100 square foot range,” homebuilder Daniel Glammeier said.
The size of your typical starter home is roughly the same as what you saw on the parade of homes just a few years ago, but the owner of Glammeier homes says the price tag is vastly different.
“We were putting up houses this size and we could do them for right around $200,000…that usually included all of the landscaping too,” Glammeier said. “The home we’re in right now, it’s 1100 square feet, no landscaping included and about $315,000. So it’s a significant change; up over 50 percent.”
Even with all entry-level finishes, with the way material prices are right now, builders say new homes can’t really get below that $300,000 price tag.
“We might have paid $8,000 or $9,000 three, four, five years ago for the trusses in this house. Today they’re probably more like $18,000,” Glammeier said.
The wait time to build them has also doubled from four months to nine months or more as contractors wait on products to arrive.
“It takes four months just for the trusses we order to arrive…. so we start building without a customer,” Glammeier said. “We had no problem finding people who were desperately looking for a house of this size in this price range.”
“We wanted to stay in the $300,000s. At one point I said that budget isn’t realistic. We’re going to have to spend $400,000 or just under. We kind of accepted that we probably were going to have to. But we were lucky to get in at $305,000,” new Sioux Falls homeowner Kelly Johnson said.
Even with a higher starting price tag, Kelly Johnson is thrilled to finally have a new home, especially one that fit their budget.
“We had put offers in on multiple houses and lost out on cash bids up to one person outbid us by $60,000 dollars, and it was a cash offer so we didn’t stand a chance,” Johnson said.
That stark competition is why there’s so much demand for these entry-level homes, even though the price to build is up.
“The demand for these homes is incredible. Every single house on this street either sold within one week of being put on the market or prior to being put on the market,” Glammeier said.
The demand is also high for building homes at just about every price range and builders say in the Sioux Falls area, it’s become difficult to find lots and developments that allow these smaller, more affordable homes.
You can take a look at the wide variety of new homes available in the Sioux Empire this weekend at the Homebuilder’s Spring Parade of Homes.
