New housing permits in state down 7% in June

The number of new housing permits issued in Connecticut last month was down by 6.7 percent from June 2020, according to officials with the state Department of Economic and Community Development .

There were 264 new housing permits issued last month, compared to 283 units approved during the same period last year. Through the first six months of this year, 1,950 new housing units were approved by communities around the state, a 10.7 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2020.

The 264 new housing units approved last month is the lowest amount of permit activity in any June since 2010, according to DECD data.

The city of Milford led all of the communities reporting new housing permits issued in June with 15. Norwalk had the next-highest with 12 permits issued.

Part of the reason for the decline in new housing permits was a decline in the number of apartment units approved.

There were only 63 permits issued last month for development of 5 units or more. In April, when a total of 519 permits were issued statewide, 273 were issue for developments of 5 units or more.

Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for DataCore Partners, said permit activity for apartments represents 38.3 percent of the total number of new housing permits issued during the first six months of this year.

“People need flexible housing arrangements given the economic uncertainty we are seeing in the economy,” KlepperSmith said Monday.

New housing permit activity is considered a key economic indicator because of the number of jobs associated with it as well as the need to purchase durable goods to go into the homes. Examples of durable consumer goods are appliances, home and office furnishings, lawn and garden equipment as well as consumer electronics.

Elise Amendola / Associated Press Lumber is piled at a housing construction site.