By Nancy Huddleston, Editor

When it comes to mid-year building permit numbers, there are plenty of low numbers that are a direct result of the downturn in the housing market.

But there’s one high number that is just as telling as the others – the 472 permits issued for residential additions and alterations.

And whether those were for decks, kitchen remodeling projects, basement upgrades or other home-improvement projects, the city’s building permit statistics show residents are adapting and making economic decisions to suit their needs.

“Most people enjoy where they live, they just want something bigger and newer,” explained Building Official Jay Scherer. “So now instead of investing in a new home, they are investing in their existing home.”

The 472 additions/alterations residential permits were valued at $2.5 million. In addition to those, the city issued 62 permits for commercial additions/alterations valued at $2.1 million. Last year at this time, the city issued 266 residential and 28 commercial additions/alterations permits.

The commercial additions/alterations statistics show a lot of tenant finishes in the Savage Lofts development in the Eagle Creek Business Park, in addition to a few miscellaneous projects in other business park buildings. As well, permits for a $389,000 re-roof project at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church falls into this category, as does the $450,000 addition for Aspen Academy Charter School at Bethesda Church.

Miscellaneous permits were also up – to 40 with a value of $1.146 million compared with 34 at $756,000 in June of 2007.

But permits for new construction weren’t so rosy.

Zero permits have been issued from January to June for townhomes and 11 for single-family homes. Those 11 permits are valued at $2.93 million. Last year at this time, the city had issued 51 townhome permits and 17 single-family home permits for a total of 68 total new housing units valued at $10.9 million.

In terms of commercial/industrial permits, that six-month number is up to three permits, but the value is only $3.7 million. In 2007, two commercial/industrial permits had been issued at the mid-year point, with a declared valued at $13.1 million, but one of those projects was Redtail Ridge Elementary School in south Savage.

The three big commercial projects for the year so far have been for the Sonic Drive-in, Walgreens Drugs and the city’s McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center (ELC). But the city does not collect permit fees for its own projects, so some $28,971 in fees for the ELC isn’t factored into the overall building permit numbers.

Overall, by the end of June, the city issued a total of 593 permits, which is actually up from the 408 issued in 2007. In terms of dollars, the statistics show the 2008 declared value to date is $12.474 million compared with $28.821 million issued at this time last year.

Scherer says he doesn’t see a turn around in permit numbers for the rest of 2008. Nor does he see things turning around in 2009 or 2010.

 Nancy Huddleston can be reached at editor@savagepacer.com.  What’s the housing market like in your neighborhood? Sign up as a registered user, and offer your thoughts in the comment box at the end of the story.