KIAWAH ISLAND INVESTMENT MONITOR

NEW CONSTRUCTION
ACTIVITY SOARS

More new homes were started at Kiawah Island, in 1996 than the previous year. Yet the homes that were begun are just a little smaller and just a little less expensive than last year.

The average size of a new home decreased about 150 sq. ft. (the size of an average bedroom) over the average home built in 1995 from 3,384 sq. ft. to 3,234 sq. ft. However, on average, new homes at Kiawah are still about 360 sq. ft. larger than new homes being built at either Seabrook Island or Isle of Palms.

While the average permit value only dropped a fraction of a point from $402,175 in 1995 to $401,776 in 1996, the overall cost per square foot to build a new home on Kiawah jumped from $118.86 in 1995 to $124.24 in 1996.

That is a 4.5% increase in the cost of new construction since last year. (The cost per square foot is for guideline purposes only and based on values reported in the permits. It is most likely understated from the full contract cost.)

When we first began reporting the building permit activity at Kiawah Island (See KIAIM 2Q95) quarterly performance has \consistently outperformed the year ago quarterly statistics except third quarter activity when it remained the same.

In the four years of the Monitor's history of building permit activity, the number of new homes started peaked in 1994 at 84 from 63 the year earlier. In 1995, they repeated the 1993 number of 63, but dollar volume was well above the 1993 level. Activity for 1996 was a blow out with higher volume and an increasing number of new starts approaching the high two years earlier.

For 1996, in both total dollar volume and the number of permits issue, Kiawah took the lead over the other two markets covered by the Monitor. Kiawah remained the leader in total dollar volume at just less than $31 million, compared with Isle of Palms $20.7 million and Seabrook's $10.4 million. Total dollar volume at Kiawah jumped from $25.3 million in 1995 to $30.9 million in 1996, more than a 22% increase.

Kiawah took the lead in the number of permits issued from the Isle of Palms with 77 permits logged by the Monitor, compared with 73 at the Isle of Palms.

The average new home on Kiawah Island remained the same with four bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Again, larger than any of the other markets we cover.