Residential Remodeling Numbers Flat in Most of Country

The BuildFax Remodeling Index for October indicates a slight slowdown in the number of building permits issued for the purpose of residential remodeling from the previous month.   The number of these permits, however were substantially increased compared to one year earlier. 

Permits issued nationwide in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.993 million.  This is 4 percent below the revised September estimate of 4.141 million.  Permits were issued in October at a rate 10 percent above the 3.637 million in October 2013.

The year-over-year improvement in permitting was observed to some extent in all four regions of the country.  However the only region in which there was a substantial change in both monthly and annual numbers was the Midwest where local building departments issued 851,668 remodeling permits, down 18 percent from the previous month.  The number was 12 percent higher than one year earlier.  In the Northeast there were 452,796 permits, down less than 1 percent from September and up 2 percent from October 2013.  The South had 1.716 million permits, again only a fractional decrease from the previous month but up 11 percent year-over-year.  In the West there were 886,553 permits, down 1 percent from September but up 3 percent from the earlier period.