Community Corner

New Home Construction Dips in Matawan, Booms in Aberdeen

The state saw a 38 percent increase in the number of homes built from 2009 to 2012.

New Jersey is seeing a bump in home construction, according to a NJ Spotlight report.

New residential construction levels declined significantly in the late 2000s due to the recession but the industry is finally starting to rebound, NJ Spotlight said. There was a 38 percent increase in the number of homes built in New Jersey from 2009 to 2012.

In Aberdeen Township, 11 residential building permits for single-family homes have been issued through May. In 2012, a total of 28 permits for single-family units were authorized, a 100 percent increase from 2009. Those figures compare to 2011’s 29 permits for single-family units, 2010’s 11 permits for single-family units and 2009’s 14 permits for single-family units.

Find out what's happening in Matawan-Aberdeenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

NJ Spotlight’s interactive map also shows a slight decrease in construction value in Aberdeen. In 2009, the construction value per home was $122,061 while it dipped to $116,250 in 2012 and $112,727 for 2013.

But Matawan is seeing a different pattern — a 100 percent decrease in home construction from 2009 to 2012. Matawan didn’t issue any permits in 2012 and hasn’t yet in 2013. In 2011, Matawan issued one permit for a single-family unit, three permits for single-family units in 2010 and three permits for single-family homes in 2009.

Find out what's happening in Matawan-Aberdeenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Matawan is one of 151 municipalities, that have not authorized permits this year. Many of those municipalities are small built-out boroughs, NJ Spotlight reported.

NJ Spotlight showed Matawan’s construction value per home at $124,100 for 2009 but did not provide figures for more recent years.

Rebuilding at the Jersey Shore post Superstorm Sandy could be a contributing factor to the 45 percent increase compared to the first five months of 2012, NJ Spotlight reported. But the state is also seeing a boom in building in areas that were not severely damaged by Sandy, especially in the construction of multifamily units. 

Last year, 17,939 units were authorized statewide, an increase from the 12,952 in 2011, NJ Spotlight reported. Residential construction saw a real low in 2009 at 12,421, the lowest number of permits issued in more than two decades. The pre-recession high was in 2005, when 38,588 new housing units were authorized throughout the state.


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