Area home builders have best February since 2007

Indianapolis-area home builders had their best February in almost a decade last month with a big surge in new-home buying.

Builders filed 381 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area in February, a 16 percent increase over the 328 permits they filed in same month of 2015, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis said Wednesday.

The last time area builders filed more permits in February was in 2007, when they filed 442.

Monthly sales haven’t increased so much on a year-over-year basis since November 2014, when permit filings climbed 22 percent over the previous November.

So far, filings are 9 percent ahead of last year’s pace, with 701 permits filed in the first two months of the year, compared with 646 during the same two months of 2015.

As usual, Hamilton County led the area in filings, with 166, a 24 percent increase over the previous February.

Marion County saw a 17 percent decrease in filings last month, from 66 to 55.

Hendricks was the next busiest county, with 49 permits, up 20 percent.

Filings were up 6 percent in Johnson County, to 36, and jumped 45 percent in Hancock County, to 29.

In Boone County, permits fell 16 percent, to 26.

Filings in Shelby County jumped from two to 12.

Madison and Morgan counties each recorded filings in the single digits.