Homes, Sweet Homes

•

In 1994, southeastern Michigan home builders enjoyed
the best year for their industry since the 1970s.

STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

I

he area housing boom of
1994 should continue right
into 1995, according to the
president of the Builders
Association of Southeastern
Michigan (BASM).
Janet Compo said at BASM's
annual economic forecast meet-
ing that single-family home per-
mits issued in 1994 for
southeastern Michigan increased
20 percent from 1993 and BASM
expects similar activity in the
next 12 months.
Some 14,541 permits were is-
sued in Wayne, Oakland, Ma-
comb, Washtenaw, Monroe, St.
Clair and Livingston counties in
1994, compared to 12,075 in
1993.
The hottest areas for building
last year were Canton, Macomb
and Shelby townships and Troy.
In West Bloomfield, the num-
ber of permits surged from 195 to
338. Commerce Township saw an
increase from 205 to 352 and the
number of permits jumped from
181 to 223 in Farmington Hills.
There was a slight slide in
Novi from 321 to 304 and Bloom-

field Township slipped from 94 The number of permits issued
has been in the 10,000 to 15,000
to 65.
"Last year was the best for the range for the past nine years.
This decade, the number has
home-building industry here
since the 1970s," Ms. Compo said. gone from 10,710 in 1990 to
`The economy has picked up and 10,292 in 1991 to 11,176 in 1992,
interest rates remain low com- 12,075 in 1993 and 14,541 in
pared to the early 1980s, when 1994.
Ms. Compo also noted that
they were in the double digits."
The lone downside to the area most single-family homes being
housing boom has been a contin- built in the Midwest are bigger
ued shortage in the labor supply. and have more amenities than
those which were constructed two
decades ago.
The lone downside
According to the U.S. Bureau
of the Census, the average square
is a shortage in
feet in a single-family home from
1971 to 1993 went from 1,540 to
the labor supply.
2,075. Two-car or larger garages
were built in 85 percent of new
"We're in a growth period here, homes in 1993 but just 53 percent
and our labor supply has not kept in 1971.
Air conditioning was installed
pace with the demand for new-
home construction," said Ms. in 78 percent of new homes in
Compo, who is chief executive of- 1993 compared to 25 percent in
ficer of James D. Compo Inc. in 1971. At least 2 1/2 baths were
found in 48 percent of 1993
Farmington Hills.
Despite last year's surge, homes but only 16 percent of
southeastern Michigan is more 1971 homes. ID
of a stable than booming housing
market, Ms. Compo pointed out.

Should Israel
Gamble On Casino?

heldon Adelson, own-
er of the world's
largest, privately
owned convention
center and one of the con-
tenders for a license to op-
erate the first casino in
Israel, was in Cyprus re-
cently to investigate the op-
portunities for operating a
casino there.
, Mr. Adelson — owner of
the Sands Hotel, casino,
and exposition and con-
vention center in T as Vegas
— warned that Cyprus will
soon have casinos.
"The Israelis have to
open casinos before it's too
late," he said.
Accompanying Mr. Adel-
son in Cyprus was Moshe
Hananel, director of Galilee
Tours, which is associated with
a U.S. travel company also owned
by Mr. Adelson.

S

Hananel added, Eilat will
have 12,000 rooms, but the
German and Scandinavian
charter passengers who
make up the bulk of Eilat's
winter tourists are a three-
and four-star market.
Mr. Adelson said Eilat's
problems could be solved by
a convention center in con-
junction with the granting
of a number of casino li-
censes.
With three casinos, he
said, some 8,000 to 10,000
jobs would be generated.
Mr. Adelson, whose busi-
ness interests in Israel in-
clude movie theaters,
investments in high-tech
industries and a pending
Mr. Hananel warned that five-
deal
to
establish a giant retail
star hotels in Eilat — where Mr.
Adelson's casino would be located sales center, has been lobbying
— are facing an occupancy rate of for casinos in Israel for the past
several years. ❑
only 40 percent for January.
In two or three years, Mr.

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