Lakeville continues to hold the lead for new building permits for single family homes with 83 permits for 93 units the first quarter of 2013.

Other cities with a good number of building permits were Mendota Heights with 37, Eagan with 29, Rosemount with 23, Farmington with 21, Apple Valley with 13, Burnsville with 8 and Inver Grove Heights with 5.

In the Twin Cities Woodbury topped the building permit list for the first quarter of the year with 88, Prior Lake had 41 and Savage had 27.

The statistics are from the Builders Association of the Twin Cities.

New construction demand continues to grow with Minneapolis seeing their construction volume at three times the amount of last year.  Housing starts are now 82.5% above the low hit in April 2009 but still short of the housing peak in 2007.  Last month single family building permits were up 6.7% making it the highest level since July 2008

Forecasters expect permits to level off now that the winter season is coming but they think we will still be about 25% ahead of last year by the end of the year.

The increase in new construction will help the economy get back on track too as it provides jobs for the builders, sub-contractors and suppliers.

The trend in the Twin Cities these days seems to be toward smaller lot sizes. In the past it was most common to have 100 ft. wide lots but right now most new developments are looking at 60-65 ft.  Ryland and Pulte homes both say that their new developments are mostly smaller lot sizes.  There are many reasons for the change such as being able to offer a better home at a lower price with the smaller lot, better lots, people downsizing that are not ready for a townhome but don’t want all that yard work and young families that are too busy for yard work.

These days so many families are dual income, so there is not as much time to spend on the yard, many parents prefer a better school district and are willing to settle for a smaller lot in the right district and the kids today have so many scheduled activities that they are not spending much time in the backyard either.  With all these factors, the smaller lot sizes are just working better in most developments.  There are still larger lots to be had but the smaller ones are the current trend.  Now would be townhome buyers are able to buy a single family home for about the same price with the smaller lot sizes and they don’t have all the work of a large lot.