By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

Statistics from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, highlighted in the October Builder’s Bulletin, show an increasing supply of homes for sale in the month of August. King County had 1.92 months’ supply of inventory, up from 0.93 months’ supply a year ago. Snohomish County had 1.70 months of inventory, up from 1.11 a year ago. This increase in supply, while still low, has moderated price increases.

The Builders' Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report:

By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

The latest Builder’s Bulletin shows just over two months’ supply of homes for sale in King and Snohomish counties during November. While this is an increase from the less than one months’ supply a year ago, it is still below the four-to-six-month level that many industry analysts consider as an indicator of a healthy market. Median home prices fell month-over-month from $613,509 to $605,000 in King County and rose from $445,000 to $450,000 in Snohomish County.

The Builders' Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report:

A LEGACY OF BUILDING IN THE PUGET SOUND

Bellevue-based BDR Companies provides investment, development, and home construction in the Puget Sound area. With highly respected backgrounds in the residential development community, BDR executives have been recognized with major industry awards, including national Gold Nugget Awards for building excellence, Builder of the Year (twice), more than 100 industry-wide MAME Awards, and numerous Built Green recognitions.

Todd Bennett is the founder and president of BDR Companies. Prior to that, he was a principal in Bennett Homes for 30 years. In his current role, Todd puts together developer partnerships for BDR’s residential building projects. “Our partnerships mostly build homes. We have two groups: BDR Homes for homes priced under two million and BDR Fine Homes for homes priced over two million.”

MORE THAN 20 YEARS IN THE MBA HEALTH TRUST

Between Bennett Homes and BDR, Todd has been a member of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBA) for 34 years (once serving as President) and the MBA Health Trust for 21 years. “MBA’s health insurance is a big benefit for us,” says Todd. “We’ve used the Trust from the beginning. All of our employees are on our plan now. We’ve always been able to provide good coverage for them. And it’s affordable for us.”

SIGNIFICANT COST SAVINGS

The MBA Health Trust has provided Todd and his companies with consistently lower premiums. “We’ve looked at other health insurance providers, but we’ve never been able to get the same combination of cost savings plus benefits,” he says. “The MBA plan has consistently been 10-15 percent less cost, even with the big increases in health insurance premiums since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”

REGENCE BLUESHIELD “KEEPS IT SIMPLE”

Regence BlueShield is the MBA Health Trust’s insurance partner, and Todd has had good experiences with them over the years. “The Regence plan is flexible. So far, we haven’t had a hitch at all on who we can use and what’s covered—even with large medical issues. Regence has covered most everything so far and kept it simple.”

MBA MEMBER BENEFITS ALSO INCLUDE BUILDER ADVOCACY

In addition to the MBA Health Trust, Todd’s long membership in the MBA has helped his business in other ways. Todd says the MBA has a very strong government relations group. “A great benefit to MBA membership is the advocacy role the MBA plays,” he says. “We get a common voice in the industry. Local municipalities listen to the MBA. That’s a primary benefit from a builder standpoint. The MBA gives the builders more of a collective voice. It’s very powerful. The MBA has helped get code changes that benefit the home building industry adopted, for example.”

CITIES LISTEN, PROCESSES ARE EXPEDITED

Todd cites challenges with some cities and how the MBA interceded. “We were having slowdowns with building permits and the MBA got involved and arranged a meeting with city officials. This got the process moving forward quicker.”