Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home’s population increased by 20 people in 2010, according Portland State Population Research Center’s preliminary estimates for 2010.
As of July 2010, Sweet Home’s population was estimated at 9,070, up from 9,050. The Portland State estimate is based on housing starts, said Sweet Home Community Development Director Carol Lewis, and Sweet Home hasn’t had much new construction in the last year.
According to the 2000 Census, the last actual count, Sweet Home had a population of 8,016. 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data will not be available for another year or two, Lewis said.
Linn County’s population increased from 110,865 to 111,355. Albany’s population was 49,530; Brownsville, 1,780; Lebanon, 15,600, Sodaville, 295; and Waterloo, 215.
“What we’re seeing is what we normally see in depressed economies,” Lewis said. The city has had more remodeling and small projects and fewer large projects.
While construction started spiking upward in 2004 and then began to decline by 2007, the activity Sweet Home has had this year is similar to the past 20 years, since the changes in the timber industry.
The activity in the past couple of years is more consistent with typical years in Sweet Home.
In 2009, the city had about $6.2 million in construction value, compared to about $2.6 million in 1993.
“This is not an anomaly,” Lewis said of the recent decline in construction. “(The housing boom) is an anomaly.”
Data from earlier years are scarce, Lewis said, and she is unable to go back and compare figures with past booms, such as the ones in the 1960s.
Population data are drawn based on the fiscal year, July through June.
From July 2009 to June 2010, the city issued permits for 15 new single-family dwellings and one duplex, compared to 12 and no duplexes from July 2008 to June 2009.
The city had four new manufactured homes on lots and three in parks in 2009-10. In 2008-09, the city had four new manufactured homes on lots and 10 in parks.
Total construction value for 2008-09 was about $6.1 million. In 2009-10, the city had approximately $5.15 million in construction value.
The lowest quarter in the two-year period was the first three months of 2010 when the city had $571,000 in activity.
The majority of the activity has been in residential areas. In the 2009 calendar year, the city had $5.3 million in residential construction while the commercial areas had $884,000.
To date in 2010, through September, the city has $1.9 million in residential construction and $872,000 in commercial construction.
Within the last 20 years, home construction peaked in 2006 with the construction of 88 new site-built homes and seven new manufactured homes on lots.
During the 1990s, the city typically had more manufactured homes sited than new site-built homes. In 1998, Sweet Home had 44 new manufactured homes on lots and 28 new homes built on site. The trend changed in 2000, with 38 site-built homes and 16 manufactured homes.
The trend has continued through this year, with 15 site-built homes this calendar year and six manufactured homes.
Total construction value, based on the calendar year, peaked in 2006 with $14.9 million. In 2003, the city had $14.8 million in new construction. Only two years in the 1990s had larger construction values than 2009 ($6.2 million). Those were 1996 with $6.3 million and 1998 with $7 million.
In this decade, only 2001 had a lower number with $3.3 million in construction value, while 2004, with $7 million, and 2008, with $8 million, were only a little busier.