New-home construction in Lawrence is on pace to set a low not seen since 1990, even though mortgage rates are near their lowest levels in 30 years.

Through the first nine months of this year, Lawrence builders have started 214 new single-family homes, according to building permit numbers recently released by the city’s Building Inspections Department. The last time single-family building numbers were that low was in September 1990, when only 210 new homes had been started.

This year’s total is about 12 percent behind last year’s pace and is 82 percent behind the record year of 1994, when builders started a whopping 390 homes during the first nine months of the year.

Lawrence builder Lee Queen said there’s a simple explanation for the slowdown people aren’t buying.

“We’ve got four homes built and all four of them are setting empty,” said Queen, who is vice president for Edmondson Construction. “That’s the biggest reason. The market is really slow, and I’m not sure why.”

The slowdown is running counter to the national trend. Last week federal officials announced housing starts in September reached a 16-year high and home sales were expected to reach record levels for 2002.

But that’s not the type of trend Queen is seeing in the area. He said the new-home construction market currently is the slowest it has been in his 16 years of building in Lawrence.

“It’s one thing to not sell a home, but we’re not even getting any lookers right now,” Queen said. “It has us concerned because there are a lot of builders holding a lot of product right now.”

Other area builders said the slowdown hadn’t reached every part of the new-home construction market.

David Reynolds, president of Apple Tree Homes, said his business likely would set a revenue record in 2002. But he said he focused more on custom-home building rather than building on speculation.

But Reynolds said he was surprised by how much the number of single-family building permits had declined.

“I am a little shocked by that number,” Reynolds said. “Normally our market has not moved as much as the national economy. With the university our incomes are a little more stable, and when the national economy drops we usually don’t drop as much.”

Jeff Hoffman, owner of Hoffman Builders Inc., said he thought part of the slump could be attributed to so many strong years of building activity.

“Just looking around, there does seem to be a lot of signs up,” Hoffman said. “Sometimes you can go great guns, and then maybe that supply gets built up and it takes awhile to get absorbed.”

Opinions were mixed on whether builders would pick up the pace in the fourth quarter of the year.

Queen said his company didn’t have any plans to begin new projects until they sold at least one of the four houses they have completed.

But Reynolds said he has heard of builders pulling new permits this fall to make up for projects they didn’t begin this summer.

Builders, though, seemed to be in agreement that the slowdown likely wouldn’t be a long-term trend, but rather that building activity would pick up once the economy improves.

As for other construction totals, the September report showed most areas declined from August levels. Builders took out permits for $9.88 million worth of projects in September. That’s down from $14.13 million in August, but up from $8.85 million in September 2001.

For the year, Lawrence builders have begun $106.26 million worth of projects, marking the seventh consecutive year of more than $100 million worth of construction in Lawrence.