Oklahoma City Metro area permit numbers are tallied for the month of March, 2009, and show that builders (and, perhaps, their bankers) are still keeping a firm grip on the reigns of inventory production moving into the 2nd quarter of the year. March brought forth a 10% increase in permits pulled over February, but year to date permit totals are down 42% over last year.



One noticeable characteristic of the first quarter of 2009 is the lack of spike seen in February or March previous years. There's a distinct cause for this, which I'll discuss in a subsequent post in the coming days.



In looking at the 3-year trend, an optimist can't help but wonder if this is the dip we've been waiting for...



Permit totals include single-family housing permits reported by these municipalities and/or counties: Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills, Warr Acres, Bethany, Midwest City, Village, Oklahoma County, Edmond, Yukon, Moore, Mustang, Norman, Choctaw, El Reno, Piedmont, Blanchard, Newcastle, Tuttle.