Cookeville – If you look around Putnam County, dirt is being moved everywhere. From new homes to new businesses, the County is growing.
New construction projects were strong in October. 39 permits were issued, and that is up from the same month last year and the highest amount in four years. The permits accounted for $5.5 million worth of construction, and 12 of those permits were for single family, residential homes. In October of 2021 there were 38 permits for $7.1 million with 26 new single family homes while in 2020 only 20 permits were issued in October.
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said there was only one setback.
“The only slowdown this month we saw was the number of new home starts,” according to Porter. “We have been averaging about 20 each month, but fell to 12 this month. Will have to wait and see if this is a new trend or not with interest raises rising above 7% for the first time in many years.”
Putnam County has set a record for construction, and it’s only November.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |||||
| Permits | Total Amount | Permits | Total Amount | Permits | Total Amount | Permits | Total Amount | |
| January | 16 | 2,750,000 | 21 | 2,164,000 | 21 | 6,259,335 | 28 | 8,516,500 |
| February | 10 | 1,216,000 | 12 | 2,106,000 | 14 | 1,794,700 | 39 | 7,960,443 |
| March | 31 | 5,005,500 | 37 | 4,988,300 | 52 | 11,445,470 | 30 | 6,355,500 |
| April | 35 | 4,246,600 | 40 | 4,989,299 | 40 | 6,648,166 | 46 | 9,177,568 |
| May | 28 | 3,675,000 | 38 | 6,005,175 | 32 | 4,588,000 | 39 | 6,575,375 |
| June | 32 | 4,114,400 | 54 | 7,986,208 | 26 | 3,848,100 | 51 | 15,624,742 |
| July | 28 | 4,043,700 | 44 | 6,130,500 | 26 | 3,306,000 | 41 | 9,911,325 |
| August | 28 | 4,093,500 | 38 | 5,666,600 | 26 | 4,066,823 | 31 | 6,679,000 |
| September | 26 | 3,656,585 | 30 | 3,120,440 | 49 | 8,220,500 | 30 | 7,751,000 |
| October | 37 | 4,461,300 | 37 | 4,636,482 | 38 | 7,145,878 | 39 | 5,533,500 |
| November | 23 | 3,625,500 | 28 | 3,111,200 | 35 | 7,481,500 | ||
| December | 13 | 1,492,600 | 20 | 3,772,000 | 29 | 5,023,100 | ||
| TOTALS | 307 | $42,380,685 | 399 | $54,676,204 | 388 | $69,827,572 | 374 | 84,084,953 |
Numbers provided by Randy Porter.
