New housing pace continues, led by multifamily

[eomaha]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=46& ... nd=1110414

Summary...

First quarter housing permits totaled 1,138... up from 1,059 in 2004.

Sarpy County is up 5%. Pottawatamie is off of last years numbers.

Before anyone gets overly excited about all of these new residents... consider the number of homes listed for sale is up 600 from the same time last year (ie most of these are most likely upgrades by existing residents). Interestingly though demand is strongest for sub $130,000 housing... and the inventory is building most in the $200,000+ category. I guess the 'rich' are indeed getting richer.

Multifamily permits grew significantly from 114 units to 525 units between
this year and last. However, this is more a sign of things getting back to normal than a real increase as apparently we were building more than 2,000 units a year back in the 90's... and have averaged about 1,200 units a year.