The red-hot homebuilding market cooled off a bit in the Twin Cities last year, and activity among north metro communities largely mirrored that trend.

The number of homebuilding permits metrowide totaled 4,909 in 2014, down from 5,249 in 2013, according to the Keystone Report for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. The number of housing units built also fell, from 10,202 in 2013 to 10,087 last year.

Seven of the 12 north metro cities tracked by the builders' group posted lower housing permit numbers in 2014 than in 2013. An exception was Blaine, which posted the highest total in the north metro with 305 permits, up from 301 in 2013.

Multiunit construction wasn't a major factor in the north metro area except in Fridley, which had seven permits issued for 107 housing units in 2014. □