New construction is dependent on demand and location.

My most recent house had people fighting to give me a deposit the first day I listed, and I only had it listed on one site, and I had messy construction pictures. 

Now, she was a pro, and took her voucher and somehow found a new construction unit with heat included. 

I was in construction management for about 30 years in and around Dallas, Texas. 

At that time I started taking on larger construction projects for pay on the side.

What is the quality of the construction?

As someone else pointed out , far more constructive that mindlessly thumbing through instagram, Facebook or Twitter !!

Just closed a construction loan on Friday for 300k, 0% down, 5%, 12 months, no points, no prepayment fee's.

As someone who lost over $100k in new construction (you can listen to my podcast on BP if you want to hear more about it, in my signature below), and about the same as you if you factor lost appreciation, losing that kind of money is a very tough lesson.

I think you need to look very, very carefully at the local job market and the key employers as well as growth and new construction inventory.