Colorado Legislature Immediately Kills SB-219, Homebuilders’ Proposal to Study the Alleged Shortage

May 2, 2014

The Colorado Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5-2 to kill Senate Bill 219, which would have given the divisions of housing, insurance, and law a combined $150,000 to collect data on and investigate the current homebuilder-alleged shortage of owner-occupied affordable housing (a/k/a condominiums and townhomes).

If you’ve read the financial news lately, you know that the free market conditions around the country, heavily favor construction of for-rent apartments over for-sale condominiums.  Colorado condominium and townhome builders are trying to make construction defect litigation the scapegoat for the dip in their business. Luckily, the Senate Appropriations Committee agrees that spending $150,000 of taxpayer money for the homebuilders’ fishing expedition is not a prudent way to dig into the issues.

Here is a CNBC news piece that explains the real reasons that apartment are being built rather than condominiums, nationwide:

Apartment REITs returned to 12.75% in Q1 from CNBC

Oh, and by the way, according to the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, townhome and condo permits actually are “soaring” (but don’t tell the legislature):

insiderealestatenews.com:  Townhome, condo permits soar