New-home permits up in Wake County

Comparing January through October for the same time period last year, they're up 30 percent, from 3,107 to 4,049.

"When you're looking at Wake County, we've started over 4,000 homes this year," Tim Minton, executive vice president for the Home Builders Association, said Friday. "So, you're looking at 12,000 jobs that are added to our marketplace. This is not just the builders. It's the carpenters. It's the brick layers."

Minton said factors for the increase have to do with the economic recovery. People are buying, and builders are responding to supply and demand, he said.

"We do not have that many new homes in the marketplace," he said. "The builders have done a great job, in terms of selling through the inventory."

Apex, Knightdale, Raleigh and Fuquay-Varina permits more than doubled for the month. Remodeling permits also showed great gains, with a 12 percent increase.

Wayne Holt, who runs Reward Builders, a local custom-home builder, said that, in the past few years, his company has been selling three or four houses a year at lower prices.

So far, this year, he said, he has sold seven homes at a higher price, and he expects more for next year.

"(The year) 2012 has been good to us for sure," Holt said.