The number of single-family building permits filed in the nine-county area climbed 43 percent in November, the fifth straight month of year-over-year increases, according to the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
PulteGroup Inc. has purchased 24 acres in the Anson development near Whitestown in Boone County and plans to build 36 homes. Long-range plans call for 255 homes on 145 acres.
New-home construction is on track to rise more than 10 percent this year in the nine-county Indianapolis area.
Home builders in the Indianapolis area filed 339 permits in September, bringing the total to 3,191 through the first nine months, an 11-percent increase from the same period last year.
Builders in the nine-county Indianapolis area filed 408 construction permits in August, a 15-percent increase from the same month a year earlier, according to the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
Builders in the nine-county area filed 373 construction permits in July, a 21-percent increase from the same month last year, according to the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
Home builders filed fewer building permits in the nine-county Indianapolis area last month, but filings are still up through the first six months of 2012.
California-based Ryland Group Inc., the Indianapolis area’s third-largest home builder, said it bought the Indianapolis-area lots from Westport Homes.
In May, pending sales of existing homes in the Indianapolis area increased 7 percent from the same month last year while building permits for new construction rose 20 percent.
New-home construction in the Indianapolis area rebounded last month from a poor April to post a big year-over-year increase.
Modest increases in home sales are the latest sign that the market could be starting to turn around nearly five years after the housing bubble burst. Still, housing construction remains at roughly half the pace that economists consider a healthy market.
Permits filed last month in the nine-county area totaled 352, a 2-percent year-over-year decrease. But activity through the first four months remains stronger than it was during the same time last year.
Pulte is tossing out the prior builder's playbook, which called for duplexes aimed at buyers 55 and older. Pulte rezoned the land to allow for single-family homes on larger lots. The resulting 123 home sites will accommodate ranch-style homes starting in the low $100,000 price range.
Newly confident buyers seeking to capitalize on low mortgage rates have discovered there’s a scarce supply of well-maintained existing homes for sale and are turning in larger numbers to new homes.
New-home permits in the Indianapolis metropolitan area rose 13 percent in the first three months of 2012 compared with the same quarter last year, bolstered by stronger activity in February and March.
Developers are catering to nontraditional renters by building units resembling upscale condos.
Residential building permits are being filed nationally at about half the rate considered healthy by most economists, but builders have grown more confident over the past six months after seeing more people express interest in buying a home.
The nine-county Indianapolis area rebounded from a slow January to post a 40-percent year-over-year increase in building permits last month.
Building permits filed in the nine-county Indianapolis metropolitan area totaled 194 in January, a 2-percent dip from the same time last year. But industry leaders are cautiously optimistic.
Kim Hutchison, 52, the former treasurer of Greenwood-based J. Greg Allen Builders and Princeton Homes, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for allegedly stealing more than $446,000 from the now-closed companies.
