A raft of new apartments and an uptick in single-family homes gave Twin Cities homebuilders a boost last month.
During the four-week period ended Aug. 27, builders in the 13-county metro were issued 470 permits to build 739 units, according to data gathered by the Keystone Report for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC). That was a 13.8 percent increase in permits and a 38.9 percent rise in new units.
These communities issued the most permits last month:
Minnetonka 107
Carver69
Ramsey52
Plymouth 38
Woodbury 37
Apartment construction has led the recovery for homebuilders with rentals and other kinds of attached housing representing upwards of half the total construction. With the uptick in single-family construction, attached housing this month represented just 40 percent of all planned units. For the whole year so far, that figure was 45 percent.
Despite two consecutive months of stronger permit activity, including a recent spike in single-family construction, homebuilding in the region has been flat compared with last year. In a statement, BATC President Chris Contreras said "While we're happy to see another month of improvement in the market, we were hoping for a much stronger year in 2015."
Here's how the year stacks up against the previous four in January-through-August unit counts:
2011 2,731
2012 4,903
2013 6,088
2014 6,117
2015 5,682
Though housing construction has been slack compared with last year, the total value of the permits is the highest in nearly a decade. So far this year, total permit value was $1.296 billion, more than $70 million higher than last year.
Jim Buchta
