Data: New housing units in state likely to drop in 2021
For the first time since 2018, it appears Connecticut will not exceed 4,400 new housing units in a year, data shows. The state Department of Economic and Community Development on Thursday released data indicating new housing permits for November were essentially flat when compared to the same period last year.
The Connecticut new housing market has topped 4,400 units in 2019 and 2020. But that streak is likely to end this year since just 3,335 new housing permits have been issued in the state in the first 11 months.
It would take over 1,000 new housing permits in December to reach 4,400. And Connecticut hasn’t seen 1,000 new housing permits issued during any December in the last 14 years.
New housing permits for 283 units were issued by 104 Connecticut communities in November, according to the data released by DECD. That is one fewer unit that permitted during November 2020.
Milford led all Connecticut communities in November by issuing permits for 15 new units. Officials in the New Haven County community has issued 162 new permits through the first 11 months of this year, compared to 145 during the same period in 2020.
Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for DataCore Partners, said the housing numbers are a reflection of Connecticut’s labor market, which he said “hasn’t shown any meaningful growth in a while.”
“The uncertainty associated with the pandemic has given companies an opportunity to replace labor with capital investments (that make business operations more productive),” Klepper Smith said.
Fred Carstensen, a professor of finance and economics at the University of Connecticut, said the state is still down by more than 90,000 jobs compared to March 2008. Carstensen is also director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, which is part of UConn’s business school.
“And many of the jobs we do have a much lower quality, lower pay than what we lost in finance/insurance and nondurable (pharma) manufacturing,” he said.
New housing permits are considered a key economic indicator because moving into a new house or apartment is usually accompanied by purchases of so-called “big ticket” items like consumer electronics and dishwashers.