ANDERSON — The number of new residential houses being built in Anderson doubled in 2017 over the previous year continuing an upward trend.
During the year the Anderson City Council approved residential tax abatements for the construction of 16 new homes worth $3.9 million.
Figures provided by the Anderson Economic Development Department indicated there were eight residential tax abatements granted in 2016 with a total value of $1.6 million. Four new homes were constructed in 2015 with a value of $1 million.
The city’s residential tax abatement program has been in place since 1991. It was implemented during the administration of Mayor J. Mark Lawler and has been approved annually.
The City Council will consider adoption of three residential tax abatements at the Feb. 8 meeting and several more are anticipated for consideration.
Daphne Holtzleiter, property manager for Mustin Builders, said the residential tax abatement program is great in getting people to stay within the Anderson city limits.
She said the residential tax abatement program is not available in Pendleton, Lapel and other communities where they build new homes.
“It’s a great sales feature,” Holtzleiter said. “It helps a lot. When we talk with people about Pendle Point and South Main it is brought up.
“Building in Anderson is more cost effective because of the tax abatement program and the lower permit fees,” she said.
Holtzleiter said work on Phase 3 South Main Street Village is going “full steam ahead.”
Lawrence Johnson of Mustin Builders said it’s difficult to build new homes in an older neighborhood, adding the tax abatement program has helped in developing South Main Street Village.
“The infrastructure is already there,” he said. “The tax abatements have helped us to attract buyers that might have gone to another location.
“The most affordable place to build is in Anderson,” Johnson said. “The tax abatement is a benefit.”
Johnson said people living in an older home have higher utility bills but lower taxes. He said a new home results in lower utility bills and higher property taxes, but the tax abatement helps lower the cost for three years.
Mike Leslie, general manager for Bridgenorth Homes, which is building in Apple Downs, said seven new houses were constructed in the past nine months.
The residential tax abatement program is important to both the builder and the buyer, he said. “It saves the buyer money and makes them more interested in building new.”
Leslie said the Anderson program is used in advertising homes in Apple Downs.
Bridgenorth Homes builders are hoping to construct 14 homes in the Apple Downs subdivision this year.
For Madison County, 56 new houses were constructed in 2016, according to information from the Planning Department. The new home construction had a value of $11.9 million.
There were 57 new houses built in the county in 2015 with a value of $11.8 million.
The trend for the unincorporated areas of Madison County is showing an upward climb since 2011.
For the period from 2009 to 2016, Madison County issued 332 new residential housing permits with a total value of $71.9 million.
As might be expected, more than half of the new houses constructed in Madison County were in the four townships to the south and west of Anderson.
A total of 182 new houses worth $47.1 million were constructed between 2009 and 2016 in Green, Fall Creek, Adams and Stony Creek townships.