New Residential Building Permits by Region: September 2002

The number of residential building permits issued nationwide during the first three quarters of this year was 5.0% greater than during January-September 2001, according to preliminary estimates by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Unit-permit totals for eight of the nine regions of the country were higher during January-September of this year than over the first nine months of 2001. But as a group, the Rocky Mountain states recorded 5.3% fewer permits through September of this year than over the same period of 2001.

Activity in the nation's largest-volume home building state, Florida, continued at a healthy pace. With 10.4% more permits issued through September of this year than over the first three quarters of 2001, Florida remains one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. And permit volume in runner-up Texas was growing just as fast -also up 10.4% compared with the nine-month total of a year ago. And it's worth noting that growth trends in Texas have consistently improved as we've moved through the months of 2002, even as gains have weakened over the past four months - if only just a bit - in Florida. And California, the third-largest market in permit volume throughout 2001, recorded 4.5% gain in the unit permit total vs. year-ago through September 2002 after running consistently below the 2001 building pace during the first half of this year.

The number of residential units permitted for construction in the first nine months of this year was greater than during January-September 2001 in 40 states. Among the 10 states recording over-the-year losses, the largest decreases (in percentage terms) were in Colorado (-16.5%), Kansas (-13.8%), Nevada (-11.3%) and North Carolina (-5.4%). Losses of a lesser magnitude were recorded in Washington, Michigan, South Dakota, Ohio, Idaho and Arizona.

However, these setbacks were more than offset by gains in every other state. Double-digit over-the-year gains were recorded in 21 states over the first three quarters of 2002. Notable trends among relatively high-volume home building states were gains in Louisiana (+23.2%), Alabama (+20.3%), Missouri (+14.2%), Virginia (+12.2%), New York (+13.0%), Minnesota (+10.8%), Florida (+10.4%), Texas (10.4%) and South Carolina (+7.3%).