Residential single-family construction grew 23 percent from 2019-2020 as homebuyers enjoyed the lowest interest rates on record. The pandemic changed day to day life for many, with homeowners spending more time at home, bringing them a heightened awareness of inadequacies in their living arrangements.
For the first time since the Great Recession, NKY ended 2020 above 1,000 building permits, with a total of 1,140.
Residential remodeling permitted projects grew only 8 percent over 2019. It is important to note that these projects represent only permitted projects which include structural or mechanical alterations.
The average value of these projects grew by 23 percent, showing that Northern Kentucky homeowners invested more into their homes during the pandemic than in the year 2019. While the volume growth is less impactful than that of residential single-family construction, 2020 permitted remodeling volumes have increased by 50 percent when compared to 2018.
Multi-family residential building slowed in 2020 when compared to 2019. That comes after a year of substantial pullback in multi-family building from 2018. This represents a decline of 38 percent over two years; a reduction mimicking the national trend.
Nationally, the commercial/industrial sector contracted 2.1 percent while Northern Kentucky crushed that trend in 2020. New development of commercial/industrial projects show a permitted value of $568 million, a figure that is 25 percent greater than that of 2019, a figure that doubles that of 2018.
Commercial/industrial reinvestment also continued to grow in Northern Kentucky in 2020 at a pace 11 percent above 2019, which also shows an improvement of 84 percent of 2020 over 2018.
This means while growth continues for this part of the construction sector in Northern Kentucky, the pace of growth is slowing. Contributing to expansion in this sector is the Amazon Prime International Air Hub. While total new and reinvestment commercial/industrial projects totaled $910.7 million, the air hub or Amazon operation projects account for 93.5 percent of all projects in this sector. Without Amazon related projects, NKY would have seen little to no growth for commercial/industrial growth in Northern Kentucky over the last few years.
The Building industry hopes that companies continue to position themselves to move to Northern Kentucky and use Amazon’s operations here to move their products to market and lend to the recent growth in this sector of the industry.
Click here to access the Northern Kentucky Construction Market Report
Building Industry Association of NKY
We can only hope that with the building of new homes that the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky remembers that as the largest population, the Boomers, move into their senior years that more emphasis is placed on accessibility for that people can “age at home”. Building houses with no steps into the residence, with doors wide enough for wheelchairs, and a bathroom on the first floor that can be utilized by someone in a wheelchair goes a long way. More and more families are inter-generational and accessibility can make the difference in whether a home is sold.