Blog

Sable Homes’ John Bitely remains optimistic as national builder confidence drops amid COVID-19 pandemic

While residential builder confidence has dropped nationwide amid the COVID-19 pandemic, West Michigan home builder John Bitely told The Grand Rapids Business Journal that he remains optimistic.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released last week reflects the growing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on builder confidence for newly-built single-family homes. Builder confidence dropped 42 points in April, which NAHB said is the largest single month change in the history of the index.

John Bitely, president of Sable Homes, West Michigan third-largest home builder, said he remains optimistic about housing trends for the region because of the strong housing market going into the pandemic, but admitted he is very concerned.

“The current issue we have of not knowing when our industry can go back to work or how long the shutdown will continue as a whole for our society creates unknowns, which make it impossible to plan,” said Bitely. “Are we going to open next week, next month, or six months from now — all will make a difference on my confidence. The sooner it happens, the more confidence I will have.”

Read the full GRBJ article, here.