Midstate building permits off nearly 30 percent in January

Residential building permits in Central Pennsylvania missed the mark in January, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

There were 101 permits issued in the Harrisburg-Carlisle, Lancaster County, Lebanon County and York-Hanover metropolitan areas, which was down 29.4 percent from last January.

Harrisburg-Carlisle permits accounted for 81 of those permits. It was the only metro area of the four to post a gain — up from 72 — over January 2014, according to the Census.

There were just five reported residential permits in Lancaster County compared to 37 last year. In Lebanon County, there were seven compared to 10 last year, while York-Hanover posted eight compared to 24 a year earlier.

The value of midstate permits was $20.5 million in January compared to $29.6 million last year, a decline of 30.7 percent.

Lebanon County permits totaled $1.49 million this year compared to $1.48 million in January 2014, according to the Census. That was only the metro to report a gain in value over 2014.

More than 80 percent of the permits reported were for single residential units, according to the Census

Source: Central Penn Business Journal