(Cam Lee/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Permits Lower in Melfort

Building permit values drop in Melfort in 2019

Jan 16, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The value of building permits issued in Melfort in 2019 was slightly lower than the previous year.

The value of all permits issued in the city was $9,439,000, compared to $12,119,700 in 2018.

“Looking at where that [reduction] occurred, we see that there was a reduction in basically all the different categories. Residential, commercial and industrial were all just a little below last year,” Director of Development, Planning, and Community Relations Brent Lutz told northeastNOW.

There was $15,260,517 worth of permits issued in 2017, while the 10 year average as of 2019 was $12,349,687.

There were 40 residential permits issued last year in Melfort, matching 2019’s total, and the city increased the number of new living units by six last year, compared to 10 in 2018.

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Lutz said the provincial numbers also show a reduction in building permit values.

“They haven’t completed their year-end financials so they don’t include December, but it looks like the value of all permits in the province will be down by 10 per cent, and the number of living units are going to be down around 35 per cent,” Lutz said.

He said the cost of construction versus the current selling price of properties is affecting the amount of building taking place in the province, and it may take some time for the selling price to catch up to the cost of new construction to see some big increases in construction permits.

The city has already sold land for some residential construction in 2020, and there are discussions on a number of potential commercial developments. Lutz said they don’t see any major change in permit numbers or values from last year.

“In a community this size, one single permit can kind of tip the scales as to whether the values would go over that average amount,” Lutz said. “At this point, we don’t see that this is representative of a particular swing in development, just other than certainly a slowdown, and we don’t see it increasing right now year-over-year.”

Lutz said they like to look at building permit numbers, values, and the new living units as a whole because the representative sample is small. Just looking at building permit numbers can be misleading, for example, as the permits could be issued for renovations on existing homes rather than new home construction.

The City of Melfort’s official community plan states that something in excess of 30 new homes need to be constructed on average to meet current growth levels.

“We don’t expect that to happen every year because some years we have multiple unit buildings that go up that might contain almost 30 units just in that one permit,” Lutz said “We do watch it year-over-year to see if we’re able to maintain that number of new living units, otherwise you can’t grow your community if there’s no place for people to live.”

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974