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Permit activity for new-home construction in Connecticut continued to move at a sluggish pace in June, according to data released by the state that shows last month’s activity trailed that of a year ago by 39 percent.
The state Department of Economic and Community Development said Tuesday that 247 permits were issued in June among the 128 communities it tracks. That was up slightly, 8 percent, from the 229 issued in May, but was well below June 2009’s total of 403.
Through the first half of the year, 1,344 permits were issued statewide, down slightly more than 6 percent from the 1,434 issued during the first half of 2009.
Builders and contractors continue to grapple with difficulty obtaining financing for projects, said Bob Wiedenmann Jr. of Sunwood Development Corp. in Wallingford.
At the same time, consumers remain hesitant to make big purchases like new homes while the economy is still shaky, he said. “That’s holding people back,” he said, especially those who remain uncertain about their job security.
“We as builders aren’t building a lot of spec homes,” he said, referring to houses built on speculation with no buyer in place. “We’re building them as our customers request them.”
Within Greater New Haven, Milford issued the most permits with 15, followed by Wallingford with nine and Cheshire with five.
(See a database of town-by-town permit activity at the bottom of this page)
Permit activity has been declining for the past few years, state data shows. Five years ago, in June 2005, there were 1,030 issued, though experts agree the permit pace of the mid-2000s was inflated and unsustainable.
More recently, the housing market was battered in the recession which, though technically over, continues to have an impact on consumers’ mindsets and purse strings. Continued...
“We’ve hit a soft patch here,” said Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners in New Haven. Permit activity had started to show some resiliency this year, until June’s year-to-date decline over 2009, he said.
Household incomes are growing only about enough to keep pace with inflation, leaving little, if any money, to spend on big-ticket items like homes, he said.
Builders are hopeful the worse of the housing slowdown is behind them, paving the way for a slow recovery, Wiedenmann said.
“We’re more stable (now),” he said. “You have to stabilize at some point, and then you can start building up from there.”
Call Cara Baruzzi at 203-789-5748.
Housing permits issued for Connecticut by town
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