We have updated all 10 charts in the Cromford® Public section of the site with the latest building permit counts for Arizona. These numbers are provided to us by the US Census Bureau and allow us to monitor future supply of new homes in the single-family and multi-family segments.

When the housing market started to head south in 2005, the home builders accelerated their construction plans and kept building single-family homes in Central Arizona at record high levels for another two years. It was not until August 2007 that new single-family permits dropped below 2,000 per month. They would not see that 2,000 level again until 2018, 11 years later.

This time round, things are very different. Builders are more cautious and have scaled back their building after the recent market weakness. In July and August we are seeing roughly 2,000 per month, well down from the 3,000 a month level we were seeing a year ago, and the annual permit rate is trending down.

Builders of multi-family homes are much less cautious. The annual rate of 19,086 multi-family permits for Maricopa & Pinal counties is the highest we have ever recorded and up 36% from the 14,073 we saw a year ago.

Market insights provided by the Cromford Report.