New Hanover County permitting shows mixed results

New Hanover County’s construction sector showed signs of slowing last month despite a surge in new single-family construction.

A report on construction permits released Tuesday by the New Hanover County Development Services department shows a 4 percent increase in permitting activity last month compared with September 2011.

In all, New Hanover County officials doled out 1,542 permits in September – that’s up from 1,483 permits issued for the same period last year.

According to the report, 54 new single-family permits were issued last month for a total valuation of $15.6 million, an increase from 36 new single-family permits issued in September 2011.

Year-to-date, New Hanover County has reported a 62 percent increase in permits for new single-family construction.

But despite the slight increase in permit activity last month, construction spending is down 19 percent compared with spending last year.

Donna Girardot, executive officer of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association, said the fluctuation is common around this time of year.

“I anticipate we may end up with a total in construction dollars spent somewhere in the neighborhood of last year’s total of $449 million,” Girardot said in a news release. “However, there are a couple of factors that could have a significant impact on this total by fiscal year end.”

Development services currently has 178 projects in plan review, projects with a total value of over $97.5 million dollars.