2016 was a good year for single-family housing starts in the Town of Niverville.

Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck says in 2016 a total of 77 building permits were pulled compared to the 73 pulled in 2015, but the total dollar value of those permits was down.

"Overall value of building permits, commercial, single-family, multifamily are less than 2015. That is because of an increase in single-family dwellings, but a decrease in multifamily and what we call nonresidential which would be the commercial."

Dyck says the total value of the permits issued in 2016 was $12,566,680 compared to $17,465,146 in 2015. He notes this past year there were 30 single-family housing starts and in 2015 there was 23. He says multifamily housing starts have been very strong over the last couple of years which may be one of the reasons they were down this past year.

"On the multifamily homes, duplexes, condo units etc. in 2014 we had 7 multifamily permits pulled, 2015 we had 8 and in 2016 we had 2. What we are seeing is that there was significant activity in 2014 and 2015, developers are now looking to fill these units so 2016 was a little bit of a lull in that regard."

Dyck says as far as commercial building goes, there were 6 permits pulled in both 2016 and 2015. He notes Niverville is becoming a more viable option for businesses with the growing population so they anticipate commercial building to pick up a bit in years to come.

"On the nonresidential side 2015 and 2016 have both been fairly consistent with growth and now with the annexation and the development that council is working on with the Niverville business park, I believe that expectation for 2017 is that our commercial will continue to be strong as it has been for the last couple of years."