The Town of Tecumseh may have issued fewer building permits in the first six months of the year, but the value of those permits is up 99 per cent.
Between January 1 and June 30, the town's building department issued 105 permits, mostly for additions and improvements at residential and non-residential buildings.
In the first six months of 2022, it issued 157 permits.
However, the value of this year's permits is over $20-million, a significant jump from the $10-million collected in the first half of 2022.
Housing starts dropped from five last year to just three single-family homes and five additional dwellings. The town anticipates a big uptick in the second half of 2023 when Phase One of the Oldcastle Heights subdivision breaks ground.
This week's report to town councillors suggested market conditions and high-interest rates impacted housing starts.
It also expects commercial and industrial permits to pick up in the last quarter when work starts on the new Castle Gate Business Park.
The building department closed 430 outstanding permits worth over $124,000 to protect the town from liability. That included 29 new residential buildings and 34 multi-residential projects.
