Applications for new homes rise for 11th straight month in Indy area

(Adobe Stock)

The Indianapolis-area homebuilding industry continued to see rising new-home activity in May, with residential construction applications increasing 11% on a year-over-year basis.

However, the area homebuilding market has lost much of the sizzle and velocity that characterized the first couple of months of 2024.

Builders in the nine-county area filed 837 single-family building permits during the month, up from 752 in May 2023, according to the latest statistics from the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis, or BAGI.

For the first five months of 2024, permit filings were up 35% compared with the same period of 2023, from 2,940 to 3,978.

Permit filings have risen on a year-over-year basis for 11 straight months. But May’s increases were seen in only five of the area’s nine counties. A sixth county—Morgan—had the same number of starts as it did in April.

The year started with a bang, with filings in January shooting 77% higher than in the same month in 2023. The month-over-month increases drooped to 63% in February and 19% in March. In April, filings were 37% higher than they were in April 2023.

“We are encouraged by the local market’s steady growth, especially in what has been and is predicted to be a tumultuous year, politically and economically,” said BAGI CEO Steve Lains in a media release. “What is also exciting to see is growth in the more rural and developing counties, which is not surprising given their more moderate home prices and cost of living.”

Lains struck a cautious tone for later in the year.

“We obviously have no way to foresee the impact of the upcoming election but are encouraged by these permit numbers.,” he said.

May single-family building permits filings by county and year-over-year increase:

Hamilton: 318 (-6%)

Marion: 132 (+8%)

Boone: 70 (-1%)

Hendricks 84 (-6%)

Hancock: 89 (+89%)

Johnson: 71 (+73%)

Madison: 42 (+223%)

Morgan 24 (0%)

Shelby: 7 (-13%)