In October, more than 350 home permits were issued for the fifth consecutive month in Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne counties, according to the Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan.
A total of 370 single-family home permits were issued in October, while the number of permits in September was adjusted upward to a total of 438, marking three consecutive months above 400 permits and becoming the highest monthly total since September 2019.
“I’m very encouraged by the overall sustained strength of the recovery in new home permit activity during this ongoing pandemic, not to mention a historic election season,” says Michael Stoskopf, CEO of the Home Builders Association, which is based in Farmington Hills. “I think the results are quite possibly as good as we could have hoped for looking back on how dire the circumstances were in April and May.”
Seasonal slowdowns in new home permit activity are expected through the end of the year.
The average new single-family permit value dropped 5.1 percent from September 2020 to $291,041, which is largely flat from the previous year, seeing a 1.8 percent increase.
The average single-family home sale price did not change from September 2020’s $259,220. However, this value is a 14.4 percent increase from October 2019.
North American vehicle production continues to rebound as October’s production was 8.9 percent higher than September and 3.3 percent higher year-over-year, pumping out 1,455,160 units. Crude oil price per barrel decreased 7 percent month-over-month and 31.8 percent year-over-year to $39.60.
The employment level stayed largely flat month-over-month, increasing 0.3 percent to 1,759,629. However, this is a 9.7 percent drop from the previous year. The workforce was also flat from the previous month – dropping 0.1 percent to 1,954,927 – which is a 3.7 percent drop from October 2019.
