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Campbell River experiencing huge construction growth

Building permits up 41 per cent in first quarter of 2018 compared to same time last year
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A recent report says that building permit issuance in Campbell River is up 41 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 over the same period last year, thanks mainly to the approval of multi-family housing complexes. Mirror File Photo

A recent report shows Campbell River is experiencing a far steeper growth curve than other areas of our region.

Building Links, an organization out of Courtenay that produces a newsletter on construction news for the Mid- and North Island, recently released the statistics from the first quarter of 2018, showing that from Jan. 1 to March 31 almost $23-million worth of building permits were issued in Campbell River.

In comparison, the next two closest permit issuers, the City of Courtenay and the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) issued $14.1 million and $13.9 million in permits, respectively.

Over the same time period in 2017, the City of Campbell River issued just over $16-million in construction permits, meaning the total value of permits issued year-over-year has increased 41 per cent in the first quarter. Courtenay’s increase quarter-over-quarter was 6.44 per cent while the CVRD increased 30.31 per cent.

The report says the Campbell River increase is mainly due to the number of multi-family permits that have been issued, as single-family residential permits are down pretty much across the board, except in the Comox Valley Regional District, who issued 11 more single-family residential permits in the first quarter of 2018 than they did in the same period last year.

“I think these numbers show how hard our city staff are working, just trying to keep their heads above water and keep pace with all the development permit applications and the variance requests and everything else and they’re doing a great job,” says Mayor Andy Adams.

The average home price in Campbell River continues to climb, as well, according to the Building Links report.

“Last month, the benchmark price of a single-family home in the Campbell River area climbed to $401,500, an increase of 24 per cent over March 2017,” the report says.