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Permit Reports
Housing Permits
Up in March Despite War With Iraq
Single-family home-building
permit activity in metropolitan
Kansas City posted its tenth straight
monthly gain in March, bumping up
3 percent compared to the same month
last year, according to figures
compiled by the Home Builders Association
of Greater Kansas City (HBA). A
total of 916 single-family permits
were issued last month compared
to 893 permits issued in March 2002.
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March
Permit Reports
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Residential
Building Permit Statistics
- Excel
| PDF
Single-family
Detached Residential Building
Permits Report - Excel
| PDF
Permit information
is compiled by the Home Builders
Association
of Greater Kansas City.
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Through the first quarter
of 2003, single-family permit activity
is up 8 percent. A total of 2,303 single-family
permits have been issued in the eight-county
region this year, up from 2,134 during
the first quarter of 2002. The biggest
gainers are Clay and Cass counties, which
both posted totals up 30 percent from
last year. Jackson and Miami counties
are the only counties to post declines
for the first quarter.
HBA Executive Vice President
Tim Underwood said the numbers show that
war with Iraq has apparently had no negative
impact on the local housing market.
"Job creation still
remains the number one challenge facing
the local housing market," said Tim
Underwood, HBA Executive Vice President.
"Hopefully a quick resolution to
the war with Iraq will help alleviate
some of the uncertainty in the larger
economic spectrum. Low interest rates
continue to make now a good time to buy
a new home, but new job growth will be
needed to sustain the housing market."
Evidence of the strength
of the local housing market will be on
display later this month when the HBA
opens the 41st edition of the Spring Homes
Tour. The annual event features a record
603 new homes in the metropolitan area,
making the Spring Homes Tour the second
largest homes tour in the nation. Homes
will be open daily from noon to 7 p.m.
April 27 through May 11.
"Each year the Spring
Homes Tour showcases the best of what
local home builders have to offer new
home buyers in Kansas City," Underwood
said. "The size of this year's tour
is indicative of the role the housing
industry has played in boosting the local
economy during the last year."
Kansas City, Mo., leads
the metropolitan area in single-family
permits issued year-to-date with 393.
Olathe ranks second with 242 permits,
followed by Overland Park with 201 and
Lee's Summit with 182.
Rounding out the top-permitting
cities for March were Shawnee, 148; Raymore,
112; Grain Valley, 98; Independence, 98;
Liberty, 71; and Leawood, 68.
The
Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas
City (HBA) is the voice of the housing
industry and the source for housing information.
Comprising more than 1,000 member companies,
the HBA represents an industry that contributes
more than $2.5 billion to the Kansas City
economy and supports more than 36,000
jobs in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan
area.
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