KC-area homebuilders continue to pick up single-family pace

Builders in the eight-county Kansas City area pulled 2,059 single-family building permits during the first four months of 2017 — a pace not matched since before the recession.

According to the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City, it was the highest year-to-date total though April since 2007, when 2,339 single-family permits were issued during the first four months of the year.

During the month of April alone, 562 single-family permits were issued — well below the 899 issued in April 2006 and the 687 issued in April 2007. But it was more than three times the number of permits issued in April 2009 — the worst April since the recession — when the monthly housing start total dipped to 184.

Multifamily construction in the metro, meanwhile, has slowed considerably this year, with 465 units permitted through April. That compares with an average of 1,196 units in the January-through-April periods of the four previous years.

The Missouri counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte all recorded single-family permit increases through April this year, with Cass County seeing the biggest gain. Its 237 permits represented a 96 percent increase over the 121 permits it issued between January and April last year.

On the Kansas side, meanwhile, Johnson County reported a 6 percent decrease — to 551 through April this year from 588 in the year-ago period. Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties all issued more permits through April than in the prior year.

Jurisdictions that have experienced notable increases this year are Peculiar (up from zero to 48), Lee’s Summit (up from 101 to 201), unincorporated Platte County (up from 42 to 79) and Kansas City, Kan./Wyandotte County (increasing to 187 from 79).

Rob Roberts, Kansas City Business Journal