Inman News

20 July 2015

Roughly 310,000 more residential building permits were pulled in June 2015 than in the same month last year, a 30 percent increase in activity.

Data from the U. S. Census Bureau show that privately owned housing units authorized by building permits totaled more than 1.34 million in June, aided by a 79 percent year-over-year rise in the number of permits pulled for projects featuring more than five units.

Authorizations for these apartment units totaled 621,000. In the Northeast alone, permits were pulled for 245,000 units.

The South — which includes Texas — was the region that saw the most single-family activity, with 368,000 permits pulled in June. The South also accounted for 583,000 (43.4 percent) of all residential permits pulled and 35.2 percent of all completions during the month.

As expected, apartment unit deliveries are ramping up significantly, with 317,000 units delivered in June. This total equates to a 53.1 percent year-over-year increase.

Single-family completions — which were at a rate of 647,000 — were up 10.6 percent compared to June 2014.

Despite single-family permit activity remaining relatively flat from May to June, Brad Hunter, chief economist at Metrostudy, suggests homebuilders are ramping up for a steady increase in starts spanning the next two years.

His prediction is based upon single-family land and lot investment and development, which is up 21.5 percent compared to a year ago.

This expected increase is homebuilders’ response to a market where the supply of new homes “is still barely keeping up with demand,” Hunter said, pointing to a finished new-home inventory of 2.5 months.