Area home construction was down slightly in April

The Kansas City area homebuilding market was off slightly in April with 441 single-family permits issued, down 0.7 percent from the same month a year ago.

The Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City reported that despite the slight drop in permits last month, home construction through the first four months of the year was still ahead of last year’s pace with 1,304 permits issued. That’s up 2.2 percent.

Sara Corless, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association, said her group remains confident that 2014 will be a good year.

“Builders say homebuyer traffic during the recent Parade of Homes was good and is evidence that the single-family residential building recovery continues in 2014 in spite of the difficult winter and worries about rising interest rates and material prices,” Corless said in a statement.

The pace of apartment construction was off somewhat, with permits issued for 1,159 units through the first four months of the year, down 9.5 percent from the same period a year ago.

Kansas City continues to lead the area in the number of single-family permits issued, thanks to its Northland subdivisions, with 232 permits issued so far this year. It was followed by Olathe, 174; Overland Park, 142; Lee’s Summit, 80; Blue Springs, 71; and Lenexa, 63.

So far this year, 39 percent of the permits issued in the area were in Johnson County, 18 percent were in Jackson County, 17 percent were in Clay County and 10 percent were in Platte County.

This story was originally published May 16, 2014 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Area home construction was down slightly in April."