If you want to see a success story in Flagler County housing, head to the coast.
Flagler Beach has seen new home construction take off over the last year, which means better financial news for the small, beachside town.
And with the annual Parade of Homes kicking off this weekend, homebuilders like Robbie Richmond are banking on more construction in the near future.
We spoke with him outside one of his homes in the Beach Haven development near Marineland.
“[Parade of Homes] is the biggest marketing event of the entire year for the builders. We get, typically we get between three to 5,000 people through our house in one week.”
In 2014 alone, the home construction industry created approximately 1,700 to 1,800 jobs in Flagler County.
That's something the president of the Flagler Home Builder's Association is proud of.
Eric Phillips said it's money pumped back into the local economy. “Last year we finished out 545 homes and Flagler County 2014 with about $60 million to the local economy in income.”
The pace of construction in Flagler is nowhere near what we saw 10 years ago. But homebuilders like Phillips said that's OK.
“We wouldn't be prepared for it," Phillips said. "Our base of labor, subcontractors, it would not be able to keep up with it right now. We want the growth, but slow and steady so we can keep up with it.”
That's not to say these homebuilders are content with how things are right now.
They believe they can take on a few more projects before reaching that critical stage and home this year's Parade of Homes will provide that.
Bright House Networks, the parent company of News 13, is a media sponsor of the Flagler Parade of Homes.