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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-area residential builders are off to their best first quarter in almost a decade thanks to a big surge in new-home buying the past two months.
Builders filed 583 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area in March, an 18 percent increase over the 495 they filed in same month of 2015, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis said Thursday.
The last time area builders filed more permits in March was in 2007, when they turned in 684.
March followed the busiest February local builders have seen in almost a decade. And permit filings have been on the rise for the last four months.
So far, filings are 13 percent ahead of last year’s pace, with 1,284 in the first three months of the year, compared with 1,141 during the same three months of 2015.
As usual, Hamilton County led the area in filings, with 216 last month, a 21 percent increase over the previous March.
Marion County saw a 15 percent increase in filings last month, from 93 to 107.
Hendricks was the next busiest county, with 98 permits, up 23 percent.
Filings were up a whopping 40 percent in Johnson County, to 56, and jumped 17 percent in Hancock County, to 41.
In Boone County, permits fell 13 percent, to 46.
Filings in Morgan County jumped from seven to 12.
Madison and Shelby counties each recorded filings in the single digits.
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