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The Indianapolis area might be showing signs of emerging from a single-family construction slump that began early last year.
Builders in the nine-county Indianapolis area filed 837 single-family building permits in June, down from 850 in the same month of 2022—a decline of only 2%, according to the latest statistics from the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
That’s the smallest year-over-year decline in the monthly report since August 2022 and a major rise from the average decrease of 29% over the first five months of the year.
Still, area filings have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 18 months and in 21 of the past 23 months.
Through the first six months of the year, area builders made 3,777 permit filings, down 24% from the same period of 2022.
Industry officials are predicting an increase in permit numbers the rest of the year due to high demand for new homes and an overall shortage of available housing inventory.
County numbers
Boone, Hendricks and Madison counties saw big jumps in permit filings in June.
– Boone County filings rose 125%, from 52 to 117. Filings over the first six months of the year are up 18% over the same period of 2022, to 434.
– Hendricks County’s permit numbers increased 123%, from 73 to 163.
– Madison County filings rose 210%, to 62.
– Homebuilding hotbed Hamilton County saw a 2% dip in single-family permits, with filings ticking down from 280 in June 2022 to 274 in June 2023. On a year-to-date basis, filings are down 5% in the county compared with the first six months of 2022, from 1,515 to 1,446.
– Marion County filings fell from 165 to 105, a decrease of 36%. Filings are down 18% in the county on a year-to-date basis, to 597.
– Hancock County saw a 48% drop in filings, to 50.
– Morgan County saw 37 permits last month, a decrease of 31%.
– Johnson County experienced a 70% decrease in filings, to 29.
– Shelby County filings fell from 12 to zero.
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This is bad news.
“area filings have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 18 months”
That means the June 2022 number last year was down relative to the June 2021 number. That the June 2023 is depressed even further from June 2022, even if it’s a relatively small decline, is not good.