Housing permits doing the wave in Gilbert

by Brian Duggan - Jul. 30, 2008 01:34 PM
The Arizona Republic

It's bittersweet news for Gilbert's housing sector, town officials say.

Housing permits are showing some growth since the number issued by the town began to dip last year, bottoming out at 43 in January.

But since the winter low, permits have grown to a 2008 high of 171 in May and dipped to 151 in June, according to the town.

Although historical averages for May and June are usually around 250 to 300 each month, it's still better than expected, said Greg Tilque, Gilbert's development services director.

"We thought it'd stay pretty flat for a number of months," Tilque said.

But the growth may not be permanent. Preliminary number's for July's housing permits suggest that they are sinking again since this year's high, said Marc Skocypec, Gilbert's assistant town manager. Skocypec said the town is expecting about 100 to 110 permits for July.

"We have kind of an uptick since January, but it's tailing off a little bit," he said.

In March, the town cut nine jobs from the development services department in light of the low housing permit numbers. Since then, Skocypec said his staff budgeted to issue about 50 permits a month.

The growing number of housing permits, while low historically, is still surprising, Skocypec said.