POULSBO — A 70-lot residential development underway in Poulsbo could be a sign area buyers are primed to meet a growing supply of new homes.

Quadrant Homes has broken ground on Urdahl Meadows, a neighborhood planned for 16.4 acres of land along Urdahl Road in west Poulsbo.

Quadrant Vice President Bonnie Geers said the company has seen indicators of a growing demand for new homes, and expects Urdahl Meadows, like Quadrant’s 160-lot Stendahl Ridge on Viking Way, to sell successfully.

“We think that there are definitely still buyers out there in the Poulsbo area that are looking for new homes,” she said.

Urdahl Meadows homes are expected to be on the market by mid-2011. The homes are typically sold before they are constructed, Geers said.

Plans for the development include two acres of central open space, which Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson applauded. The development signals a shift in the direction of economic stability, she said.

Construction has also begun on a new division of Poulsbo Place II, a 32-lot development on Fourth Avenue overlooking downtown Poulsbo. Nine of the lots have already been sold, said Poulsbo Place II principle David Smith.

He said the neighborhood’s unique location on the ridge has helped draw customers, some of which have been on a waiting list for a home with a view.

Only about a dozen houses of a 52-lot division of lower Poulsbo Place II, along Jensen Way, have yet to be built and sold. Prices on those homes were recently adjusted from $259,000 and up to $239,000 and up to attract people currently renting.

“The first-time buyer market has come back to life,” Smith said.

Low prices and low interest rates are helping to attract those buyers, though building in the county is still sluggish. Smith said nearly 1,000 houses were constructed in Kitsap in 2005 and 2006, and now only a couple hundred are built each year.

“It’s still a fraction of the construction that’s normal in Kitsap,” he said.

Other developers report little demand for new homes already on the market.

Capstone Home executive secretary Carolyn Sudduth said buying is slow at both Caldart Heights and Chateau Ridge on Caldart Avenue. Capstone planned for 86 homes between the two neighborhoods, though only about a dozen have been built in Caldart Heights and just a handful in Chateau Ridge.

Tom Tollen of Sound Built Homes said a planned development called Finn Hill Landing is a “dead deal.”

Just a few homes are constructed at a time at Snowberry Bungalows, also on Caldart Avenue, Realtor Sherri Snyder said. A dozen homes in the division have sold in the past few years, and the demand for eco-friendly residences is growing, but the homes are built to meet buyer customizations, so building per demand is nothing new.

“It’s pretty much the way we’ve always done things,” Snyder said.

Forty-two homes are planned for that development, which abuts Chateau Ridge. The development faces some difficulty from a separate housing market.

“People that need to sell their houses in order to buy ours, that’s where the real problem lies,” Snyder said.