Hutchinson builders typically awaken in May from their winter-weather hibernation and hit their stride for the summer construction season. Not so in the doldrums of the 2008 housing market.

After taking out permits for four housing units in April, builders sought only two such permits from the city in May. An average of seven housing units had been started in May during the previous 10 years, with a high of 12 in both 2004 and 2000. You have to go back to 1995 to find the last time only two homes were started in May.

The six housing permits issued thus far in 2008 is less than half the 14 issued in the first five months of 2007.

Overall construction was down in May compared to the same month in 2007. The city issued 134 permits of all types for projects worth slightly more than $1 million. That compares to 156 permit in May 2007 for projects worth $1.65 million.

For more on May building permits, read the July 1 print edition of the Hutchinson Leader.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)