Southwest 2011 Construction Activity Wrap-Up

(Click to Enlarge)

Has construction joined the economic recovery in Southwestern Utah? The answer to than question is mixed. During 2011, three of five counties--Beaver, Garfield, and Washington--did show a higher level of permit-authorized values than in the previous year. However, none of these counties showed increases in new residential permit values. In fact, a departure from the typical recovery trend, nonresidential permitting is the driving force behind the increase in total construction values in these three counties.

While new construction permitted-values declined for Iron County in 2011, there was a slight improvement in the values for additions, alterations, and repairs. Kane County's values dropped across the board.

Home-permitting Still Down

All five counties showed a decrease in the number of approved home permits between 2010 and 2011. Remarkably--given its participation in the recent housing market speculation, Washington County showed the smallest decline in home permits--less than 3 percent. In the volatile world of construction permitting, that's basically no change. On the other hand, after falling steadily since their peak in 2005, the number of home permits issued in Iron County took another hit of nearly 50 percent in 2011. (Check out the charts after the jump.)

Nonresidential Permit Values
In the three counties with expanding total permit values, nonresidential building increased dramatically. Values in Beaver County increased a whopping 484 percent--largely on the back of the new wind farm permit. In Garfield County, a permit for a professional/office building drove the 98 percent increase in nonresidential values. In Washington County, numerous nonresidential permits (including a large permit for a private school building--remember public buildings typically aren't permitted) helped to almost double nonresidential values between 2010 and 2011.However, keep in mind that for most counties, residential permits still account for the bulk of total permit values.

Please note that you can click on the tabs in the visualization below to more closely examine the data for each county. Plus, you can access detailed construction-permit data from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research by clicking here.

Powered by Tableau