Regional building permit values dip

Regional building permit values dip

The value of August building permits issued by the city of Fort Smith was $10.33 million, down 78.6% compared to August 2008 — yet another monthly reminder that the comparisons of building activity in the Fort Smith metro area will be tough for a few more months.

Weather-related damage that hit in April and June 2008 boosted residential and commercial repair activity by as much as $80 million during 2008.

FORT SMITH
Fort Smith officials issued 252 permits in August with a construction value of $10.332 million, a 78.6% decline from the value of 892 permits issued in July 2008. The August 2008 report had 711 residential repair permits valued at more than $4.178 million, compared to just 129 residential repair permits valued at $922,526 in August 2009.

However, new home construction in Fort Smith has been relatively strong this summer. The August 2009 permit report shows 17 new home construction permits valued at $2.092 million, compared to 14 new home permits valued at $1.499 million in August 2008.

GREENWOOD
Greenwood officials issued 8 permits for construction valued at $354,845 million in August 2009, well off the pace established in the first half of 2009.  or almost 60% of the value of construction permitted in the first six months of 2009. The bulk of the value came from two commercial permits with a combined value of $3.395 million. The permits were for storm shelters near the high school and near East Hills Middle School.

The city issued 48 permits for construction valued at $7.54 million during the first six months of 2009, an increase of 65.3% compared to the 62 permits valued at $4.56 million in the same period of 2008. For all of 2008, the city issued 117 permits for construction valued at $11.9 million.

Home construction fell in August, also, with the city issuing just 2 permits with a total value of $246,565. City officials issued eight new home permits in July valued at $1.050 million, and the first half of 2009 saw 24 new home permits with a construction value of $3.52 million, a value increase of 1.4% over the 25 new home permits and construction value of $3.47 million for the same period of 2008.

VAN BUREN
Officials in Van Buren issued 46 permits in August 2009 for construction valued at $2.334 million, down 44.7% from the value of permits in July 2009. The bulk of that was for a $1.202 million permit for a school building.

In August 2009, the city issued 23 residential permits for construction valued at $726,000 and issued 5 permits for commercial construction with a value of $300,000.