During March, single-family permit activity fell below figures recorded for March 2021 but were up from last month. In the eight-county metropolitan area, 445 single-family permits were issued, compared to 406 in February 2022 and 560 single-family permits issued in March last year, according to the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City’s (KCHBA) monthly Residential Building Permit Statistics report.

First the first quarter of 2022, 1,291 single-family permits have been issued. By comparison, 1,464 single-family permits had been issued at the end of the first three months in 2021, a 13 percent decrease.

Click here to view the March 2022 Residential Statistics Report. 

Availability of materials and labor continue to slow project timelines. Additionally, mortgage interest rates have jumped more than 1.9 percentage points since the start of the year and currently stand at 5 percent, the highest level in more than a decade. Further, the prices of goods used in residential construction have climbed 8 percent since the start of this year alone, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

Nevertheless, KCHBA expects the home building industry to remain active in 2022. "We expect 2022 to be a busy year due to the significant lack of available homes for sale," said Will Ruder, executive vice president of the KCHBA. "Even with higher interest rates, rising rents and new generations of buyers will require home building to continue. At what rate this construction will occur remains to be seen as a handful of cities in the region are considering significantly more restrictive building codes, which would add thousands of dollars in costs and impede additional housing inventory."

“The top permitting city in March was Kansas City, Mo., with 79 single-family permits issued. Coming in second was Olathe with 65 single-family permits. Lee’s Summit ranked third with 50 single-family permits. Overland Park issued 35 and Raymore issued 29 single-family permits.