May 3, 2021

Sioux Falls building activity is at record pace through the first one-third of the year.

Permits through April totaled $318.5 million, compared with $158.7 million for the same time last year and $207.1 million in 2019.

There has been a major increase in new residential construction, which is at $110.8 million, compared with $59.7 million last year and $44.9 million in 2019.

That represents 321 new single-family homes, which is 126 more than the same time last year.

Permits for new commercial projects are at $99.2 million, more than double last year’s $44.7 million and above 2019’s $91.6 million.

Commercial additions and remodeling projects are at $89.5 million, compared with $39.1 million last year and $53.9 million in 2019.

Permits have been issued for 784 apartment units this year, which blows away the past two years at 98 through April of last year and 287 units for the same period in 2019.

Apartment complexes dominated the biggest permits for April, with Grand Prairie Apartments near 77th Street and Cliff Avenue topping the list at $16.6 million and an addition at Edgewater Villas near 85th Street and Cliff at $9 million.