Building-permit activity rises in February

New-home construction in the Indianapolis metropolitan area rebounded from a slow January to post a 40-percent year-over-year increase in building permits last month.

Permits filed in the nine-county area totaled 281 in February compared with 201 during the same period in 2011.

January is typically a slow month for building permits. But just 196 were filed the first month of this year, a 1-percent decline from the same time last year.

“I talked to a lot of builders in February and most of them, if not all, said they had a great month,” BAGI CEO Steve Lains said in a prepared statement. “The recent permit numbers verify those claims.”

Last month, Hamilton County registered 97 permits, the most of the metro-area counties and an increase of 35 percent from February 2011.

In Marion County, builders filed 43 permits in February, a 10-percent increase from the same time last year.

Boone County registered 34 building permits, a 162-percent increase from last February and the largest jump of the nine counties.

The 40-percent increase for the entire metro area last month was higher than for any single month of 2011, Lains said. The biggest increase last year came in July, when the area experienced a 29-percent year-over-year increase.

Through the first two months of the year, building-permit activity is up 20 percent from the same time last year.