Home building is not always boom or bust. But this year, Chesterfield home-building permits for new houses are not keeping pace with last year.
New permits in July this year were up over July of last year – 128 to 112 respectively. But analyzing the year-to-date results, the county numbers look a bit bleak. In 2015 through July the building inspection department reported 755 building permits issued. In 2014 the number of permits outpaced this year by 30 percent – 1,013.
Building permits on a yearly basis though July was lower in 2015 than 2014, but there were 979 permits issued in 2012 versus 776 in 2013. In the last four years building permits have gradually trended down to through July of 2015. Chesterfield County building permits are down 26 percent since July of 2012.
In 2009, which in July, near the beginning of the Great Recession building permits were super low at 530. Since those troubling days, permits have increased by 42 percent.
Certificates of occupancy (CO), the which give someone permission to live in a new house, have increased by 41 percent, since 2009. In all the, building business has grown in fits and starts with some years giving us the impression that the local building economy is getting better, only to have hopes dashed the following year.
On the other hand, commercial construction COs have been on an upward trend for the last five years. The increase in commercial activity, the last five years, is a whopping 150 percent.
