Track Permit Statistics, Free and Easy

This article first appeared in the PB May 2004 issue of Pro Builder.

Individual jurisdictions report permit counts and costs to Census Bureau statisticians each month.

By tracking residential building permits issued in a city, county, metropolitan area or state and comparing trends, a builder can learn a lot for free. The U.S. Census Bureau's Residential Construction Branch offers this information at www.census.gov/const.

Click the New Residential Construction link and learn, for instance, that building permits for privately owned housing were issued at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than 1.9 million in March, up 15.3% from March 2003. Dig deeper and discover that Illinois issued 4,289 single-family permits in March, and California issued 14,368.

A builder also can find out how many residential buildings, from single-family through structures of five-plus units, were started or completed. The site also estimates cost per permit. Statistics for April will be released May 18. The entire data set for 2003 was released May 3.

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