New single-family building permits jumped 51 percent in Wake County in the first quarter, according to data compiled by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

The biggest percentage increases were in Fuquay-Varina, Rolesville and Wendell and Zebulon. Permits were up 75 percent in Cary, 77 percent in Raleigh and 83 percent in Morrisville.

Activity picked up considerably in March, with permits rising 70 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

The rise in permits comes as the inventory of Triangle homes for sale continues to fall.

There were just 7,669 homes on the market at the end of March, down 21 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012, Triangle Multiple Listing Services data show. The Triangle now has a four-month supply of homes on the market at the current pace of sales, down from a seven-month supply a year ago.

Level Homes, a Louisiana-based homebuilder, has entered the Triangle market.

The builder announced this week that it is now active in the Ellington Place community in Apex, The Estates in WestHigh in Cary and Cardinal Oaks in Durham.

Level expects to build about 230 new homes in those three communities.

The company, which launched in 2000, had until now just focused on the Baton Rouge market.

Level's homes range from $160,000 to $700,000, according to the company's website.

American Homes 4 Rent, the California company that has acquired more than 100 homes in Wake County since late December, is planning an initial public offering of common stock.

The company announced late last month that it plans to submit a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 60 days.

The company will use the proceeds from the IPO to acquire and renovate more single-family homes and for general corporate purposes.

New single-family building permits were up 30 percent in Wake County last year, according to data compiled by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

Permits are up in all Wake County municipalities. The biggest percentage increases were in Rolesville, where permits jumped 173 percent from 64 last year to 175, and Garner, where they increased 70 percent from 50 to 85.

Municipalities in the south and west of the county showed strong increases. Permits were up 68 percent in Apex, 55 percent in Fuquay-Varina and 38 percent in Holly Springs.

Despite the rise in permits, inventory levels of new homes on the market in the Triangle remain at historic lows. Many of the new homes now being built are pre-sales, meaning they never show up on the market.

There were 1,501 new homes for sale in the Triangle at the end of the year, down 17 percent from the end of 2011, Triangle Multiple Listing Services show.

The region has a 4-month supply of new homes on the market at the current pace of sales, and 30 of the Triangle's price segments have zero inventory.

A new report from real estate data provider CoreLogic shows that home prices in the Triangle have remained largely flat over the past year.

Home prices, including distressed sales, increased 1.5 percent in the Raleigh-Cary market in October compared to the same period a year ago, according to CoreLogic. Prices in the Durham-Chapel Hill market declined 1.1 percent over that same period.

Those numbers were well below the strong gains recorded nationwide. Home prices in the U.S. increased 6.3 percent in October compared to the same period a year ago, according to CoreLogic.

New single-family building permits are up 28 percent in Wake County through the first six months of the year, according to data compiled by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

Permits are up in all Wake County municipalities except Wendell and Zebulon.

Those showing the biggest percentage increases were Garner, where permits are up from 16 last year to 58 this year. In Rolesville, permits increased from 38 to 85.

The municipalities in western and southern Wake also continue to see increased activity, with permits up 62 percent in Holly Springs, 42 percent in Apex and 42 percent in Fuquay-Varina.

New single-family building permits are up 23 percent in Wake County through the first four months of the year, according to data compiled by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

Permits are up in all Wake County municipalities except Cary, where permits are down 19 percent from the same period a year ago.

The biggest percentage increase has been in Garner, where permits are up from just 6 last year to 38 so far this year.

Permits are up 47 percent in Apex, 38 precent in Raleigh, 64 percent in Holly Springs, 43 percent in Morrisville and 31 percent in Knightdale. 

In a sign that new home construction activity in the Triangle could finally be picking up, the number of single-family building permits issued in Wake County increased 26 percent in the first quarter.

There were 967 permits issued in the first three months of the year in Wake, up from 768 during the same period in 2011, according to data compiled by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

Holly Springs and Garner posted the largest percentage increases.

Holly Springs issued 98 percents compared to 56 during the first quarter of 2011, a 75 percent increase. Garner's permit activity jumped 480 percent, from 5 to 29.

Permit activity declined 16 percent in Cary and was up 45 percent in Raleigh. Apex was also a big gainer with a 42 percent increase.

As the number of both new and existing homes has continued to drop in the Triangle, real estate professionals have been waiting for it to correspond to an uptick in new home construction.

There were just 1,603 new homes on the market in March in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties, Triangle Multiple Listing Services data show. That was down 27 percent from the same period a year ago and off 40 percent from two years ago.

New home construction has historically been a major source of employment in the Triangle, and the lack of activity has made it harder to bring down the unemployment rate.

The Triangle housing market showed signs of recovery in January with sales, pending sales and showings all up compared to the same period a year ago.

But the market continued to be rough on sellers. The average sales price of the homes that sold was down 7 percent while the percentage of deals that involved financial concessions from the seller increased.

There were 926 homes sold in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties in January, up 7 percent from the same period a year ago, data from Triangle Multiple Listing Services show.

Pending sales were up 30 percent and showings were up 10 percent.
 

Mountain Real Estate Capital, the Charlotte firm that recently bought the debt on the Ramblewood subdivision in Raleigh, has purchased the remaining undeveloped land in the Brightleaf in the Park subdivision in Durham.

Mountain acquired the property from SunTrust Bank for $8.5 million, according to Durham County property records. SunTrust foreclosed on the property last year.

The property includes about 900 single-family and townhouse lots, according to a Mountain release announcing the acquisition.

The company closed on the property back in December.

Mountain's partner on the project is Raleigh-based L Star Development, which specializes in acquiring distressed debt.