Construction Index Ranks Metro Area Fifth in US

ORLANDO-Building permits for multifamily and single-family residences are slowly rising across the country with metro Orlando ranking fifth in the nation for the highest number of permits pulled in the first quarter, according to a new construction industry analysis by the Dr. Phillips Institute for the Study of American Business Activity at the University of Central Florida.

Orlando generated 6.56 authorized permits in the January-March period, based on 1,000 non-farm jobs in the local area. Las Vegas placed first in the rankings with 11.97 permits per 1,000 jobs. Riverside-San Bernardino, CA was second with 9.79 permits; Atlanta, third with 6.8 permits; and Phoenix-Mesa, fourth, with 6.69 permits.

“The Index of Private Construction Intensity relates the sheer number of authorized permits to the payroll jobs base in each metro area,” Dr. David F. Scott Jr., executive director of the Dr. Phillips Institute and Phillips-Schenck chairholder, tells GlobeSt.com. “This procedure provides both a locally oriented measure of construction vigor and serves as a leading indicator of confidence by local building contractors in the economic strength of the region.”

Scott says “a higher index suggests greater vigor and confidence” in the local area. The professor says Orlando’s fifth-place ranking “reflects excellent performance among the set of 61 metropolitan statistical areas.” For all of 2002, metro Orlando’s index expanded by “a healthy 15.71%” compared to 2001, the professor says.

In first quarter 2001, “which is when the last official recession actually began, the top 20 (markets) as a group posted an average decline in the intensity index of 1.49%, ” Scott says. That means the index is “ picking up the aggregate recovery that has been on a mild upswing since November 2001.”

Other rankings among the top 20 markets were Houston, 6.35 permits per 1,000 non-farm jobs; Tampa-St. Petersburg, 6.12; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, 6.10; Sacramento, CA, 5.93; Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, 5.83; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, 5.82; Jacksonville, FL, 5.40; Fort Worth-Arlington, 4.90; San Diego, 4.26; Portland-Vancouver, 4.15; Nashville, 4.09; Dallas, 4.02; Oklahoma City, 3.78; Indianapolis, 3.68; and Salt Lake City-Ogden, 3.66.