Housing construction in 2013 set to outpace recent years

The Twin Cities metro area remains on pace for a significant rise in new apartment and home construction this year.

There's been a steep year-over-year drop this month in permits for new apartment units in the Twin Cities. But so far in 2013 the region is far ahead of last year's permitting pace, issuing about 9,300 permits for new apartment units and single-family homes, with a total value of about $1.8 billion.

"We are on a trajectory to permit over 10,000 units in the Twin Cities, which we haven't done since probably about 2007," said Shawn Nelson, vice president of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. "So, the market continues to grow and I think the builders are very happy about that. The overall trend is still holding out that there's growth in the housing market."

Nelson said when the economy is healthy, thousands more permits are pulled for new construction. He said builders are still concerned that the number of permits has not reached 12,000 or more, which would be considered a normal market.

But he said the amount of building activity is moving in the right direction.

"We're still a little bit down," Nelson said, "but obviously way better than where we came from the last few years."

Minneapolis led the metro area in permits issued in November.