Business First - August 22, 2014
Pat Marrano and his staff at Marrano/Marc Equity Corp. in West Seneca are busy these days.
As president and CEO of one of the region’s largest home builders, he’s in the middle of a busy year. Sales last year for his company were up 35 percent, and through the first seven months of 2014, sales are up 16 percent.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen something like that,” he said.
Low interest rates helped to fuel the home building industry and the residential real estate market as a whole. But Marrano said he sees other factors driving people to build.
“I call it buyer confidence,” he said. “People are feeling more secure about their jobs, about the economy and about Buffalo in general.”
His company is tracking to handle 155 to 170 closings this year on new home sales, with a collective value of $52 million.
Sales are coming across the board, from moderately priced subdivisions in West Seneca and Lancaster to patio homes such as those found in Amherst’s Greythorne community, where many units sell for more than $1 million.
Earlier this month, Marrano bought 29 vacant lots for Greythorne’s next phase — half were sold just as the deal closed.
As for 2015, the company plans to bring 200 properties on the market — a mix of single-family homes and townhouses.
Marrano will spend more than $14 million to develop those lots, which represent $60 million in new home sales.
“We’re doing this because this is the strongest home buyer cycle we’ve seen around here in the last 10 years,” he said. “Everything we see indicates we are lining up for a strong finish to this year and a strong next year.”
