By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster’s housing and commercial building markets took a slight step backward during 2018, but were still nearly on par with the previous year’s numbers, according to year-end data recently released by the Alabaster Fire Department’s Building and Fire Prevention Services Department.

Alabaster City Council members reviewed the department’s data during their Jan. 22 meeting.

In the 2018 calendar year, the city issued a total of 59 new home building permits for projects valued at a total of about $19.7 million.

In comparison, the Building and Fire Prevention Services Department had issued 70 such permits in 2017 for projects valued at a total of about $22 million.

The commercial building market was also down a bit from 2017, as the city issued permits for 14 new commercial buildings valued at a total of about $8 million in 2018, which was down from 18 new commercial building permits for projects valued at a total of about $9.8 million the previous year.

However, the city’s residential and commercial addition and remodel permits surged in 2018.

While the value of the residential remodel permits was down in 2018 compared to 2017, the number of permits was significantly higher.

Alabaster issued 354 residential addition and remodel permits for projects valued at a total of about $4.2 million in 2018, compared to 267 such permits for projects valued at a total of about $4.8 million the previous year.

In the commercial addition and remodel sector, the Building and Fire Prevention Services Department issued 41 permits for projects valued at a total of about $13.9 million in 2018, compared to 38 such permits for projects valued at a total of about $4.8 million the previous year.