Sable Homes earns ‘housing giant’ designation

Sable Homes earns ‘housing giant’ designation
With 90 single-family home closings in 2019, Pro Builder ranked Rockford-based Sable Homes No. 244 in its annual Housing Giants list. <strong>Courtesy Sable Homes</strong>

West Michigan’s Sable Homes was named a 2020 “housing giant” by Pro Builder, a national housing industry publication that serves more than 120,000 homebuilders, design professionals and other industry stakeholders.

With 90 single-family home closings in 2019, Pro Builder ranked Rockford-based Sable Homes No. 244 in its annual Housing Giants list. The listing provides a glance at builders’ perceived opportunities and challenges nationwide. Sable Homes has been consistently ranked on the Pro Builder Housing Giants list since 2016.

“It’s an honor to be recognized as a national housing giant by the industry’s leading publication for the fifth year in a row,” said John Bitely, president of Sable Homes. “As we closed out 2019 and headed into 2020, we were in a strong position for new home sales. And we still are — even when COVID-19 hit West Michigan earlier this spring. Our staff and construction crews are working harder than ever to build quality and fair homes to clients in metro Grand Rapids.”

In December 2019, national annual housing starts soared to 1.6 million units (seasonally adjusted), the highest it has been since 2006. That trend continued into early 2020 with an increase of 21.4% from the previous year, and a permit increase, single and multifamily, of 9.2% to 1.5 million — the highest since March 2007, according to data by Pro Builder.

As COVID-19 swept through Michigan in March, many businesses temporarily closed their doors and homebuilders briefly paused services. For Sable Homes, home sales progressed, despite its office being closed to the public.

“We sold 24 homes while Michigan remained under the governor’s real estate and construction ban from March through early May,” said Karin Kay, Sable sales manager Karin Kay. “We were already in a strong housing market to begin with when COVID-19 hit Michigan. But with low interest rates and a low housing inventory, houses were getting snatched up quickly.”

Currently, Sable Homes has a total of seven properties — including vacant lots and move-in ready homes — compared to 20 available at this time last year.

“Homebuyers who have been patiently waiting to purchase a home are now entertaining the idea of building a home because of the low inventory in West Michigan,” Kay said. “This is the perfect time to build a home in West Michigan.”