Home Construction in Rochester Frozen by Harsh Winter

The harsh winter conditions apparently contributed to a second straight month of very low activity for new home construction in Rochester.

The City Building Safety Department approved only 5 building permits for new single-family homes in February. That’s one less than the total for January and leaves the grand total since the start of the new year at only 11. That is the slowest start for any year since 2011, which as the worst year for new home construction in Rochester in the wake of the Great Recession.

In recent months, the continued sluggishness of the home construction market was usually offset by robust commercial construction, but that was not the case last month. The largest building permit issued by the city was for the new gun club being built along Highway 63 South that was valued at a little over $2.2 million.

Overall, February saw the Building Safety Department issue a total of 92 building permits valued at just over $11.5 million. By comparison, the totals from February last year were 140 building permits worth over $36 million.

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