SMITHFIELD – COVID-19 is having a tremendous impact on the economy, but so far it hasn’t had a significant impact on new housing starts.
In March 2020, permits were issued for 214 new single family homes in Johnston County, compared to 155 in March 2019. The average value of a home permitted last month was $169,120 down from $182,227 a year earlier.
“March 2020 permits for new homes are up by approximately 38 percent from the previous year and nearly 7,500 inspections were completed. While the valuation of all permits was down a bit, the total number of permits issued was up by some 25 percent,” said Johnston County Inspections Department Chief Building Inspector Shane Hudson.
But Hudson said he does expect coronavirus to have more of an impact on contractors in April and May. “I anticipate a slight drop in new permits purchased over the next couple of months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I feel that by mid-summer 2020 we should begin to see the number of permits increase and hopefully return to some sense of normalcy.”
Last month, the Inspections Department issued permits for 12 singlewides, 9 doublewides, and 3 modular homes.
The department collected a total of $304,063.06 in fees up from $247,489.32 in March 2019.
