A surge in home construction permits powered London to a record-shattering building boom in 2016, new figures show.

City hall set an all-time high when it issued building permits worth a construction value of $1.41 billion for all of 2016 — obliterating London’s previous single-year record, $1.08 billion, set in 2011.

“It shows confidence in London . . . and (that) good things are happening,” Coun. Maureen Cassidy said as city council’s planning committee received a report Monday detailing the figures.

Coun. Tanya Park, chair of the planning committee, told The Free Press details of the permits, including the fact that many of the home permits were for apartment buildings, suggests London’s push for “inward and upward” compact growth is working.

“It’s a good sign about infill development,” she said. “It’s great news for the city, seeing this . . . opportunity to increase our population density.”

An analysis of the figures across all sectors — residential, commercial, industrial and institutional — suggests the record-setting year was powered largely by a dramatic jump in residential permits.

In 2015, $405.1 million worth of residential permits were issued by city hall.

In 2016, that more than doubled to $834.7 million.

City officials say that 3,103 residential units were created in 2016, up dramatically from 1,289 a year earlier.

A “significant number” of the 2016 units are in apartment buildings, officials say.

To put the 2016 numbers in greater context, here are the increases (not including December) from 2015:

• An 18.7 per cent hike in the number or permits issued.
• A 105.2 per cent increase in construction value.
• A 145.3 per cent increase in the number of dwelling units.
• A 42.7 per cent increase in the number of single and semi-­detached homes.

The figures drew cautious applause from a large local construction union, whose leadership remains concerned about the amount of available land on which to build houses in London.

“It was a good year. It would have been a great year had they (city hall) had more registered, serviced housing lots available,” said Jim MacKinnon of the Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 1059.

MacKinnon first raised the issue in October, when in a letter to city officials he argued London was in breach of a provincial rule requiring London to have three years of registered lots, more than 3,000, available. His union argued there were fewer than 1,000.

At the time, city officials argued the union’s analysis was wrong, saying the city was exceeding the provincial benchmark when three categories of land are counted: registered available residential lots, draft-approved registered plots and opportunities forecast for intensification.

But Monday, MacKinnon again suggested there’s a pinch facing the construction industry that could have been even more robust in 2016.

“You’re not going to be successful if you don’t have a streamlined development application and approval process that leads you to having shovel-ready land available,” he said.

Building boom

London’s construction permit figures from January-November 2016. December’s figures, which further cemented it as the best year on record, aren’t included:

• Residential: $834.7 million ($405.1 million in 2015)
• Commercial: $168.3 million ($119.3 million in 2015)
• Industrial: $50.1 million ($20.8 million in 2015)
• Institutional: $288.9 million ($108.6 million in 2015)
• Total: $1.35 billion ($653.8 million in 2015)