The final number for the total value of building permits taken out in Steinbach in 2023 is $204.7 million. 

Commercial made up the majority of building permits at $176 million. 

Mayor Earl Funk says there were a few big highlights in commercial. 

“Of course the Event Centre, that one was $60 million, so that was big, but there were a couple of other bigger projects,” he says. “You've got the expansion of the hospital that was I believe $44 million. The school was also a huge permit, $34 million for the school.” 

He says these big commercial permits kind of skew the amount, but they are still important developments. 

“These are buildings that are going to be used in our city, they're going to bring people to our city, they're going to bring jobs to our city, and so this is all part of development and it's all part of growing.” 

Even if you exclude those bigger projects, commercial building permits still did really good this year. 

"There were a couple of bigger shops that were built, there was some retail. There were many business starts this year. We did a lot of ribbon cuttings, it seemed like we were doing one or two a month. This year it seemed like there were lots of businesses starting up, that's always very exciting.” 

As for residential permits, those reached $28.7 million in 2023. 

Funk says the residential part was primarily single-family dwellings. 

“There wasn't as much multifamily, even though there's a huge need for multifamily. But with what we're working through for subdivisions presently, I think you'll see a lot of multifamily this next year, or that's what I would project, that there'll be a fair bit of multifamily.” 

He says Steinbach was very close to a normal year for single-family dwellings.  

“I think this year multifamily will catch up and I would imagine that single-family dwellings will remain constant. Single-family dwellings in our community year over year, have always been really stable. There's always been really strong growth in that.” 

Funk says that overall, it’s amazing to be able to set a new record year in building permits for Steinbach, and by such a big number. 

“It's very exciting to see a record year like this, this big amount. It'll be very hard to duplicate another year like this, I'm not saying it's impossible, but everything I think lined up properly just the way it could to be a record year,” he says. “But it's really exciting and it's a huge boost for the economy of our city when there's so much development and building going on.” 

It's been a phenomenal year, and Funk looks forward to more growth in the future. 

“I think the community should be excited as well that we did so well because that means good times coming ahead.” 

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