Good news on the housing front continues to come out of St. Charles County. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the County reports year-end totals for housing and commercial construction permits for 2021 remain ahead of the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019 and rival those of 2020.
“The year 2021 continued to show St. Charles County as a growth leader in the region and state,” says Director of Community Development Mike Hurlbert. “Total residential permits remained strong: a 17.6 percent increase over the pre-COVID 2019 numbers and nearly 47 percent higher than just 10 years ago. Single-family construction has been fairly consistent and strong over the last decade in St. Charles County, but new records were set in the growth of multi-family in both 2020 and 2021, providing a wide variety of housing options to our residents.”
New housing construction was estimated at more than $658 million, nearly equal to that of 2020 and slightly over 2019. New commercial construction costs in 2021 surpassed 2020 by 22.8 percent, or approximately $30 million.
“The growth in housing and commercial construction coincides with the county’s continuing increase in population,” says County Executive Steve Ehlmann. “The U.S. Census showed an increase of 12.4 percent over the past 10 years which put St. Charles County’s population at 405,262 in 2020. As people keep moving to our county, my administration’s focus continues to be on increased housing, the attraction of new businesses, building and improving infrastructure, and the health and safety of our residents.”
Below is a graph comparing the past three years:
