For 1998, permits were issued for 7,335 multifamily units, a 23-percent increase over 1997. During the past 2 years, the Hartford metropolitan area has experienced significant job gains and a continued recovery from the losses that occurred in the insurance and defense industries in the early 1990s. For the 12 months ending November 1998, wage and salary employment averaged 599,550 jobs, up 1.1 percent or 6,475 jobs from the same period in 1997. This gain follows a 6,825-job increase during the 12 months ending November 1997. Unemployment in the Hartford area as of November 1998 was 3.4 percent, down from a high of 7.7 percent in the same month in 1992.
Prospects are good for sustained, moderate job growth in the Hartford area.
Since 1995 residential building activity in the Hartford metropolitan area has been steadily increasing. For 1998 the number of units authorized by building permits totaled 4,385 units, up 27 percent from 1997 and the largest annual total of the 1990s. Approximately 80 percent of the activity was for construction of single-family homes. The new rental units that have come on the market have been limited in number and absorbed rather quickly. The market for sales housing in the metropolitan area continues to improve.