Home building up in the Twin Cities

New home and apartment construction continues to be on the upswing in the Twin Cities.

Builders this month obtained permits to start work on 901 homes and apartments, more than twice the number of units permitted in the same month a year ago. And so far this year, home and apartment construction permits are up 80 percent.

Minneapolis led the metro area in building permits issued in August, followed by Blaine.

"We're anticipating somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 units being built in 2012," said Wendy Danks, marketing director for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. "That is starting to look really good. We're getting closer to normal. But we're certainly not there yet."

Danks said that builders would typically construct 12,000 homes and apartments in normal times. That level of construction would accommodate population growth and the replacement of older homes and apartments.

"The home builders in the region have been very cautiously optimistic for the last year and a half," Danks said. "The most recent numbers are making them a little more optimistic than cautious."

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