By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster continued to see higher hew home building permits through August than it did during the same time period in 2013, and is still seeing its highest number of new home permits since 2008.

Through August, Alabaster had issued a total of 51 new home building permits, compared to 39 new home permits during the same time period in 2013, Ward 7 City Councilman Tommy Ryals said during a Sept. 15 meeting.

From Jan. 1, 2013-Dec. 31, 2013, the city issued a total of 61 hew home building permits.

Ryals previously said this year’s new home permits likely will be at their highest since the nationwide economic downturn hit in 2008, but said the numbers are still a far cry from what the city saw in the early and mid-2000s.

The city issued a total of 59 new home permits in 2012, 30 permits in 2011 and 29 in 2010. Alabaster’s number of residential housing permits took a nosedive after the nationwide economic downturn hit in 2008. Alabaster went from a high of 354 new housing permits in 2004 before ending the year with 100 in 2008 and 48 in 2009.