38 single family homes were built in Niverville over the course of 2017.

Mayor Myron Dyck says that is up from the 30 single-family housing starts in 2016. He notes there haven’t been this many single family homes built in the community since 2014.

"Over the last few years we are getting back to numbers that we saw three and four years ago. We had a couple of years that were still good, but just not quite to what we have seen in the past and last year was once again a fairly aggressive year."

Multifamily housing starts were also up in 2017 with 18 building permits pulled representing 29 dwelling units compared to 2 multifamily building permits for a total of 6 dwelling units in 2016. Dyck notes it is exciting to see continued interest in the community of Niverville.

"As far as the numbers themselves, we are about balance, we are about trying to ensure that we have adequate housing available, that we are working with developers that have interest in our community but then we also have to balance that against infrastructure needs and other costs that go with that."

The Town of Niverville issued a total of 87 building permits in 2017 for a value of $23,008,762 compared to the 77 building permits issued in 2016 valued at $12,566,680. Dyck notes the significant bump in values is most likely due to the types of housing starts seen in the community.

"On the multifamily, if you are doing a six-plex versus a duplex, for instance, that is going to have a higher assessment value. In speaking about numbers that is more simply from a taxation point, the higher assessment the higher portion of taxes so that is more the number that we as council look at because we look at the dollars it will bring in to allow us to service those new properties."