FREEPORT – Freeport continues to enjoy solid growth in the number of single-family homes being built.

According to the town’s code enforcement officer, Fred Reeder, 44 new single-family dwellings were built in town during the fiscal year that ended in June. In the previous fiscal year, 45 were built – the first time since 2006 that more than 40 were constructed prior to the fall of the housing market. While no new duplexes and 11 multi-family units have been built in Freeport in the past two years, the number of single-family homes is a better barometer of growth, he said.

“The most meaningful thing as a growth indicator is single-family homes,” Reeder said. “Once in a while we get a duplex, and not that many mobile homes anymore.”

For a town with a population of 7,879 in the last census, Freeport is doing well, he said.

“When we look at this,” Reeder said, “this is well above the average. This is a big jump up. To me, it means we’re very busy. The town is waking up again. Maybe the economy is turning around and people are optimistic.”

Reeder said that the uptick in new homes in the 2013 fiscal year was due in large part to the West Cove subdivision on Litchfield Road. That subdivision filled up with 30 homes in two years, he said.

“That’s what I thought generated the comeback, but this past year with 44 homes, they’ve been building all over the place,” he said. “I talk to the builders, and they say they’re busy.”

The 26-lot Beach Hill Road subdivision, under consideration by the Project Review Board, could keep the boom rolling, Reeder said.

“If these lots are reasonably priced and they get all their utilities and access roads, it could be,” he said.

Dick Lambert, codes officer in Saco and a member of the Maine Building Officials and Inspectors Association Inc., agreed with Reeder that Freeport’s numbers are high. Saco has better numbers, but with 18,200 people, it has more than double Freeport’s population.

“That’s high for a town that size,” Lambert said. “That keeps somebody busy. We get 60 for an average year here in Saco. It’s finally rebounded. People in our organization say it’s busier than in the past.”

Carolina Paras, economic and community planner for the Greater Portland Council of Governments, said she did not have new data on new homes in Cumberland County. The numbers in Freeport, she said, “are pretty robust.”

Paras said that Scarborough has been the county leader in new home construction in the past two decades, followed by Windham and Gorham. Freeport’s numbers might reflect the fact that the town is a retail center, she said.

“People want to be near the action, so that’s a positive trend,” Paras said.

Fred Reeder, code-enforcement officer for Freeport, says there has been a big jump in the number of single-family homes built in town during the past two fiscal years. 

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