While January’s total marked a strong start to 2006, mild winter weather may be the prime factor. Above average temperatures and lower precipitation have helped to spark a stronger than normal winter construction season, boosting totals for what is normally the slowest construction month of the year.

Last month’s activity also illustrates a continuing trend toward more single-family attached homes such as rowhomes, condominiums and townhomes. While January’s unit totals were up, the number of permits fell slightly – reflecting a rise in the construction of single-family attached homes.

“Single-family attached and multifamily home products are becoming an important of the housing choices offered in metropolitan Kansas City,” said Underwood, who estimated that at least one in five new-homes built in the metro are single-family attached homes.

“These housing styles have traditionally offered a different lifestyle that appeal to many families, especially homeowners seeking a low-maintenance home with greater amenities,” Underwood said. “Now we are seeing townhomes, rowhomes and condominiums emerge from a niche to the mainstream thanks to increased demand from homebuyers for more compact, sustainable neighborhoods. These product choices are essential to ensuring a broad array of housing choices, especially for working families who are often shut out of the homeownership market.”

Underwood said one of the challenges for the burgeoning rowhome, townhome and condominium market is the ability to keep costs low for consumers. According to Heartland Multiple Listing Service, the average new-home sales price for January was up 9 percent to just over $285,000.

“You need strong design to make compact neighborhoods work, but you also have to avoid unnecessary guidelines that artificially raise prices,” Underwood said. “There are numerous examples both locally and nationwide that show mixed-income, mixed-product neighborhoods are more successful than conventional neighborhoods, but you need to make sure that limiting choices for landscaping, exterior finishes and other housing products does not limit choices for consumers.”

Kansas City, Mo., led the metro area in single-family construction in January with 147 units. Lee’s Summit ranked second with 76 units followed by Overland Park with 59 and Independence with 47. Rounding out the top 10 are Raymore, 38 permits, Lenexa and Grain Valley with 37, Kansas City, Kan./Wyandotte County, 32; and Olathe and unincorporated Platte County with 29.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Effective this month, the Home Builders Association has changed its monthly residential building permit statistics reports to reflect a change in the counting of multifamily and single-family attached home construction permits

Under the previous guidelines, single-family attached and multi-family homes were counted as either single-family or multi-family units based on the type of permit issued by the permitting authority. While some municipalities require a separate permit for each unit of a single-family attached project, others issue a single multiple-unit permit.

Under the new guidelines, all single-family attached building and multi-family buildings of four-units or less will be counted as single-family homes. Multi-family buildings of more than four units will now also be distinguished between for-sale and for-rent units. The new guideline mirrors the U.S. Census Bureau tracking procedure for single-family and multifamily homes and will better reflect current building practices and trends.

Permit data included on all HBA residential building permit statistics reports beginning Feb. 1, 2006, will reflect the new report methodology. For comparative purposes, 2005 data has been changed to reflect the new methodology.

For more information on the new methodology for any questions, please contact Matt Derrick at mderrick@kchba.org or (816) 733-2213.

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.