Hanover Sees Jump In Building Permits

2016 was a bounce back year for construction in the Rural Municipality of Hanover.

Planning Manager Jeremy Neufeld says they issued 113 housing permits, representing 120 dwelling units, worth nearly $27 million. Neufeld says by no means was it a record year, however, in 2015, there were 70 housing permits worth about $14.5 million.

Neufeld says the trend continues where more and more housing activity is taking place in their urban centres instead of the rural area. In 2015, 58 per cent of housing permits were for the rural area, while in 2016 that dropped to 39 per cent.

Last year there were 27 new homes built in Mitchell, 22 in Kleefeld, 13 in Blumenort, 4 in Grunthal and 3 in New Bothwell. An additional 44 homes were constructed in the rural area.

Neufeld says it is difficult to forecast what sort of year 2017 will be, though he says there has been more activity than usual through the first week and a half. He notes Grunthal has a limited number of lots available, while New Bothwell and Kleefeld have seen a number of new developments hit the market. He adds Mitchell still has a good inventory.

In the last 12 years, 2013 saw the highest number of housing permits at 158 worth nearly $35 million.

As for overall construction, there were 354 permits taken out last year for more than $39 million. The number of permits was higher than the previous year, though the dollar amount took a step backwards. Neufeld says that is because of the Granny's expansion and Hylife feed mill construction projects in 2015.