Housing permit activity rose 8 percent in July marking the fifth consecutive month that building activity in the Chicago area has run ahead of its 1984 pace, according to the latest data from Bell Federal Savings & Loan`s Survey of Building.
For the first time this year, single-family permit activity led the increase. Municipalities in the seven-county metropolitan area reported issuing 1,716 single-family permits in July, up 20 percent from 1,425 a year ago. For all of 1985 single-family permits were 8 percent above year-ago levels.
Multifamily permits dropped 3 percent to 1,389 from 1,437 a year ago. But for the year to date, multifamily activity maintained a strong 49 percent lead over 1984 levels.
Permits for 3,105 total housing units were reported for July, compared to 2,862 last year. So far in 1985, permits have been issued for 16,188 housing units, a 23 percent increase over the 13,168 units reported in the first seven months of 1984.
West suburban Naperville led all suburbs in housing activity by more than 2,000 units, having reported permits for 1,104 single-family and 1,568 multifamily units so far in 1985. The city of Chicago has issued permits for 147 single-family homes and 1,079 multifamily units for the first seven months of the year.
The value of all building permits reported in July increased 51 percent to $566 milion from $376 million in July, 1984. That was the largest single-month value ever reported in the survey. For the year to date the value of all construction permits reached $2.55 billion.
