Hanover’s planning director considers this an average year for construction in the town.

Jeremy Neufeld says that after a slow start to the year, activity picked up in the summer, before a quieter than normal month of September.

During the first three quarters of 2024, the RM of Hanover issued 289 building permits, worth a total of $50.6 million. During the same period a year ago, Hanover issued 281 permits, worth $55.2 million.

When looking at strictly residential permits, this year’s numbers are much higher than 2023. Over the nine months of this year, there have been 109 permits, representing 127 units, with a total value of 34 .9 million dollars. Over the course of nine months in 2023, 80 new housing units were started, representing 96 units, with a total value of $24.2 million.

Neufeld says that over the past several years, Kleefeld and Mitchell have consistently been the two busiest communities when it comes to residential construction. He says this year is no different.

At three-quarters, Kleefeld had 34 new starts, followed by Mitchell with 25, then Grunthal with 10, Blumenort with seven and New Bothwell with four. There were 29 new additional housing starts in the rural area.

Neufeld says Grunthal has certainly been a bright spot, as new development there has seen more housing activity.

“Two years in a row we have seen a recovery in Grunthal’s business,” says Neufeld. “We saw 10 construction starts, including one apartment building, making a total of 21 residential units for Grunthal.”

Neufeld, for his part, believes that it is difficult to predict how 2024 will end. Is there a chance that September’s slowdown is a sign of things to come? Will the first major frost lead to a final flush of fall, as is often the case? Only time will tell.

Neufeld says this year they definitely noticed an increase in permitting activity when interest rates fell. He hopes that if additional cuts are announced, it could have the same positive impact on the construction side.