Area home builders off to best first half since 2007

Indianapolis-area residential builders are off to their best first half to a year in almost a decade as new-home buying continued to surge in June.

Builders filed 599 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area in June, a 13 percent increase over the 530 they filed in same month of 2015, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis said Thursday.

So far, filings are 14 percent ahead of last year’s pace, with 3,002 in the first six months of the year, compared with 2,639 during the same six months of 2015. Area filings have risen on a year-over-year basis for the past seven months.

The last time filings were higher during the first half of a year was 2007, just before the Great Recession.

Marion County saw a 14 percent increase in filings last month, from 87 to 99.

As usual, Hamilton County led the area in filings, with 187 last month, an 8 percent decrease over the previous June.

Hendricks had a busy month, with 104 permits, up 64 percent.

Filings were up 38 percent in Johnson County, to 76, but fell 37 percent in Hancock County, to 39.

In Boone County, permits rose 55 percent, to 51.

Madison County saw filings jump from 11 to 19.

Filings in Morgan County rose from 11 to 13.

Shelby County filings rose from six to seven.