The residential housing industry is busier this year than it has ever been, according to numbers from the city.

Mike Gau, the director of development services, said in an interview Thursday the number of building permits issued for residential dwellings between Jan. 1 and June 30 was 262.

Last year was also “extremely busy,” but the number of residential permits issued in the same six-month period was 236, or 28 fewer than this year, he explained.

In the first half of 2018, Gau said, there were 173 permits issued, or 89 fewer than the first six months of this year.

In 2017, there were 105 permits in the first half, 111 in 2016 and 88 in 2015, he said.

Gau said housing starts are influenced by a number of factors, including the availability of lots, incentives provided by the city, the Yukon government and even federally through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Pat Ross, the city’s manager of planning and building services, said officials are seeing a mix of housing types going up in the Whistle Bend subdivision, including single-family housing and multi-family apartment and condo style developments. There is row housing and duplexes, he said.

Ross said in the second quarter alone, traditionally the start of construction season, they issued a record 157 residential permits compared to 84 in 2019.

The construction industry was deemed an essential service at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as were building suppliers like Home Hardware and Kilrich Industries.

A month ago, while many people were at home because of the pandemic, Kilrich reported they were seeing a huge number of do-it-yourselfers walking through the door – people they’d never seen before.

But the supplier was also seeing the residential construction industry heating up, after an initial lull following the fallout from pandemic.

Kilrich marketing manager Scott MacDonald said Thursday they are still doing a brisk business on the home improvement side of things.

People have been building greenhouses, decks, and making other improvements.

Currently, he said, there is shortage in the country of treated decking.

They are also going full-steam supplying the building industry, residential and commercial, but particularly the residential housing industry, he said.

“Yeah, it’s been busy,” MacDonald said. “Trucks have been running every day.

“We have five delivery trucks that are flat-out every day. It’s been a busy year, much more so than last year for sure, which was also a busy year.”

Ross said on top of the record year for housing starts, they’ve also seen an increase in permits issued for home improvements, alterations and renovations.

Many people are staying at home, and many have cancelled travel plans and have the extra money to make improvements, he said.

Ross said officials issued 716 such permits in April, May and June, or 22 per cent more than the 587 permits issued last year in the second quarter.