iStock illustration

For the second year in a row, Connecticut towns and cities issued building permits for over 5,000 homes, according to new Census Bureau statistics analyzed by the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

The 5,249 houses and multifamily buildings given the go-ahead last year represent the largest single-year tally since 2015, just edging out last year’s 5,244 total.

Notably, 2023 saw a sizable downturn in the number of single-family homes permitted. Only 1,960 were given the green light statewide, compared to 2,495 in 2022 and the smallest annual tally since 2019.

And 500 more homes in buildings with five or more units were OK’d statewide last year than in 2022. The total of 3,076 apartments and condominiums approved represents the largest number since 2015.

Stamford took the crown for the largest number of units approved in any one municipality in 2023, with 423 homes OK’d. Rocky Hill, Farmington and New Haven were nearly tied, finishing a distant second, third and fourth, respectively. Rocky Hill permitted 311 units, Farmington 309 and New Haven 307.

New Haven and Bridgeport represented the biggest drop-offs in housing permitting, with the former OK’ing twice as many homes – 633 – in 2022, while Bridgeport went from permitting 492 that year to only 15 in 2023. However, not all of those units permitted in 2022 broke ground that year, with Bridgeport’s 420-unit luxury complex in the Steelepointe development site only breaking ground this month.

The remaining communities permitting more than 100 units last year were: Bethel (262) Branford (217) Newington (210) Granby (175) Stongington (162) Fairfield (155) Meriden (137) Milford (121) and Brookfield (120).

December finished off the year with 409 units approved for construction: 139 single-family homes, six units in duplexes, four units in three- and four-unit homes and 257 multifamily units. Farmington authorized the most units in December at 204, followed by Newington at 24, Canton at 10, Cheshire at 9 and Milford at 9.