Oct 4, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      
                                                                 

Contact: Mary Gibbs, Community Development Department
               (239) 479-8345

LEE'S HOME BUILDING RETURNS TO TYPICAL PACE

FORT MYERS Fla. (Oct. 4, 2006) – Builders in unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach pulled 458 permits for single-family houses in September, a number typical in 2003 and earlier.

Permits for single-family homes hit record highs this time last year.  Compared to the previous year, September permits are down by 723 or 61 percent from 2005.

Compared to the previous month of August 2006, the pace of single-family-residential permitting in September fell 22 percent – or 132 permits.

The value of permits for single-family homes was $134.4 million in September. That's down from $160 million in August and $251.6 million in September 2005.

About 59 percent of the single-family home permits were for construction in Lehigh Acres, valued at about $61 million.

From August through September, the value of construction permits fell $7.1 million or 42 percent for duplexes, $59 million or 60 percent for apartments and $4 million or 20 percent for commercial building.

So far this year, Lee County issued 38,097 building permits for a total value of $3.3 billion.  The record increase in 2005 hit the $4.7 billion mark for the year.

Lee County Community Development oversees planning, zoning, and development services such as permitting, development review, code enforcement and building inspections in the unincorporated areas of the county and permitting services for Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach.

To learn more about the department and its services, visit

http://www.lee-county.com/dcd

This release and its distribution were prepared by:

Joan D. LaGuardia, Communications Manager

Lee County Department of Community Development

(239) 479-8705 or jlaguardia@leegov.com 

This table of historic totals for single-family permits includes unincorporated Lee County, as well as the City of Bonita Springs and the Town of Fort Myers Beach, which contract with the county for permitting services.

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