Residential Permitting Gains Ground but still Lagging 2018 (April 2019)

Last month, 414 single-family permits were issued for a total of 1,242 single-family permits year-to-date in 2019, according to the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City’s (HBA) monthly Residential Building Permit Statistics report. Single-family permitting continues to lag behind 2018, which had 501 single-family permits issued in April 2018 and a total of 1,933 single-family permits issued at this time in 2018.

Click here for the April 2019 Residential Statistics Permit report.

“On a regional level, single-family starts are down 6.4 percent in the Midwest year-to-date,” said HBA Executive Vice President Will Ruder. “”Locally, weather-related delays have resulted in a slower start to the building season, but ongoing job growth, rising wages, favorable demographics and a low interest rate environment continue to support solid demand for new single-family homes.”

Locally, no multi-family permits were issued in April this year. Year-to-date, however, multi-family permits are up 76 percent compared to April 2018. At the national level, multi-family starts are also increasing, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). In fact, multi-family permits increased 8.9 percent in April nationally – the highest since March 2018, according to NAHB.

The top permitting cities in the greater Kansas City area – for both single- and multi-family – in April 2019 were Olathe (72), Lee’s Summit (42), and Kansas City, Mo., (35). Year-to-date, the top permitting cities are Lee’s Summit (258), Overland Park (243) and North Kansas City (241).