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Permit Reports
Kansas City
Residential Construction Stays
Near Record Pace in
May
The busiest spring
construction season on record in
Greater Kansas City
continued
in May as area home builders pulled
929 single-family home permits last month,
according to statistics compiled by
the
Home Builders Association of Greater
Kansas City (HBA). The total was off
just one percent from the 939 permits
issued in May 2003, which ranks as
the busiest month of May on record for
local
single-family new home construction.
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May
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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A
total of 4,622 single-family building
permits have been issued metro wide
for the year to date, up 9 percent from
last
year. That tally also bests the previous
high of 4,429 permits issued through
the first five months of 1999.
Despite
the strong totals for May, there are
signs of caution in the local marketplace.
Kansas City area home builders pulled
2,319 single-family permits in April
and May, nearly 25 percent above the
five-year average for those months. May’s
permit activity was up just 5 percent
from the five-year average.
“By historical standards May was
still a very strong month, but it was
clearly a decline from the record activity
we saw earlier this spring,” Underwood
said. “Home builders will likely
exercise caution in building inventory
until we get a better understanding of
the future of mortgage rates.”
After reaching a low of
5.38 percent in mid-March, mortgage rates
tracked
by Freddie Mac soared to 6.34 percent
by mid-May before stabilizing during
the last month. The housing industry
should get a better picture of where
mortgage rates are headed following the
Federal Reserve Board’s meeting
in late June.
“There remains a clear demand
for new homes in Kansas City, especially
for more work force housing choices,” Underwood
said. “Uncertainty over mortgage
rates may reduce speculative construction,
but it should not dampen overall consumer
demand.”
Kansas City, Mo., remained
the top city in new-home construction
activity through
May with 681 single-family permits issued
year to date. Olathe ranks second with
418 permits followed by Lee’s Summit
with 399 and Overland Park with 366.
Rounding
out the top 10 are Shawnee, 243; Raymore,
192; Kansas City, Kan./Wyandotte
County, 187; Independence 184; Gardner,
171; and Lenexa, 166.
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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