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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowArea home builders saw surging demand for new homes for the 11th month in a row in October, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis reported Wednesday.
Home builders filed 494 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area during the month, a 12 percent increase over the 443 they filed in October 2015, BAGI said.
So far, 2016 permit filings are 13 percent ahead of last year’s pace, with 4,939 in the first 10 months of the year, compared with 4,378 during the same period of 2015.
“Low mortgage rates coupled with ongoing job growth and a rise in consumer confidence is resulting in the rise in new home construction not only here in central Indiana but across the country,” BAGI CEO Steve Lains said in a written comment. “In fact, local area builders are having trouble meeting the consumer demand that exists in our high-volume counties like Hamilton and Hendricks, and labor and lot shortages are also contributing to that struggle.”
Area filings have risen on a year-over-year basis in 14 of the last 15 months. The only decrease during that span was a 1 percent dip in November.
Hamilton County, as usual, led the area in filings, with 202 last month, a 38 percent increase over the previous October.
Permit filings in Marion County were up 13 percent, with 78 filed last month.
Hendricks County saw a 9 percent increase in filings, with 75.
Filings were down 13 percent in Johnson County, to 45, and rose 22 percent in Hancock County, to 33.
In Boone County, filings decreased 34 percent, to 29. Madison County saw filings rise from two to 10.
Filings in Morgan County dropped from 17 to 11. And Shelby County filings jumped from four to 11.
Local builders are on pace to have their best year since 2007, when 7,326 permits were filed.
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