What are Housing Permits?
Housing permits are the approvals given by local county offices to proceed with a construction project.
Why is this dataset important?
Housing permits can signal potential population growth and development in an area. The number of housing permits issued in a county reflects the creation of new residential housing, which often leads to population growth and an increased demand for self-storage in the region.
Where are you getting your data from?
The permit data is directly from the Building Permit Survey (BPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The purpose of the BPS is to provide national, state, and local statistics on new privately- owned residential construction.
Data Definitions (Defined by BPS):
Housing Unit
A housing unit, as defined for purposes of these data, is a house, an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live separately from any other individuals in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall.
In accordance with this definition, each apartment unit in an apartment building is counted as one housing unit. Housing units, as distinguished from "HUD-code" manufactured (mobile) homes, include conventional "site-built" units, prefabricated, panelized, sectional, and modular units.
Housing unit statistics also exclude group quarters (such as dormitories and rooming houses), transient accommodations (such as transient hotels, motels, and tourist courts), moved or relocated buildings, and housing units created in an existing residential or nonresidential structure.
Units in assisted living facilities are considered to be housing units, however, units in nursing homes are not considered to be housing units.
Multifamily Housing
Residential buildings containing units built one on top of another and those built side-by-side that do not have a ground-to-roof wall and/or have common facilities (i.e., attic, basement, heating plant, plumbing, etc.)
Units in Single-Family Structures
1 house/structure occupied by 1 family and is owned by 1 person/entity.
The single-family statistics include fully detached, semidetached (semiattached, side-by-side), row houses, and townhouses. In the case of attached units, each must be separated from the adjacent unit by a ground-to-roof wall to be classified as a single-family structure. Also, these units must not share heating/air-conditioning systems or utilities.
Units built one on top of another and those built side-by-side that do not have a ground-to-roof wall and/or have common facilities (i.e., attic, basement, heating plant, plumbing, etc.) are not included in the single-family statistics.
Units in 2-unit Multi-Family Structures
1 house/structure with 2 units within that house/structure can be occupied by up to two families. 1 person/entity owns the property.
Units in 3- and 4-unit Multi-Family Structures
1 house/structure with 3/4 units within that house/structure can be occupied by up to three/four families. 1 person/entity owns the property.
Units in 5+ Unit Multi-Family Structures
5 or more families can occupy 1 house/structure with 5+ units within that house/structure. 1 person/entity owns the property.
For more information on the data and the methodology go to the BPS website: https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/index.html