Area home builders see 14-month streak come to an end

After more than a year of experiencing rising demand for new homes, area builders had an off month in February.

Home builders filed 351 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area during the month, an 8 percent decrease over the 381 they filed in February 2016, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis reported Thursday.

The decline was the first after 14 straight months of increases. The last decrease came in November 2015, when filings fell just 1 percent.

Marion County bucked last month’s trend by seeing 63 permit filings, up 15 percent over the previous February.

Hamilton County, as usual, led the area in permit filings, with 134 last month, but that was a 19 percent decrease over the year-ago period.

Hendricks County filings were flat, at 49.

Filings were down 3 percent in Johnson County, to 35, and dropped 10 percent in Hancock County, to 26.

In Boone County, filings were flat at 26. Madison County saw filings rise from one to eight.

Morgan County saw six filings and Shelby County had four.