Kamloops construction permits set a new record in the first six months of this year.

City development and engineering services director David Trawin said Tuesday the $116-million construction value is unprecedented, even beating out the first half of 2006, which was a record-setting year.

“It’s the best first six months ever. Better even than in 2006, at $110 million,” he said.

“We didn’t expect to be at $116 million halfway through the year when we estimated $120 million for the entire year.”

Not only were the first six months of 2010 outstanding in terms of numbers, but when added to the last half of 2009, they hit a record for any 12-month period in Kamloops.

That total comes to $222.5 million and a record 883 housing units in that one year, Trawin said.

That said, the rush on residential construction is expected to wane, while commercial will probably take the lead for the next while, Trawin said.

“We do expect residential to fall off dramatically,” he said.

“We estimate another $30 million for the next six months (in commercial); the downtown hotel and three or four other major projects.”

Trawin doesn’t think the Harmonized Sales Tax will have much impact on new-home construction because it only applies to expensive houses — not those in the price-range he’s seeing.

Dan Sulz, chief executive officer of Venture Kamloops, said some of the housing boom could be related to the ability to get a mortgage.

“One of the big things we see in Canada rather than the U.S. is availability of credit. It’s still possible to get credit here,” he said.

“We do have a very sound system and there wasn’t the overextension that there was in the U.S. In Canada, there never has been because of the rules and regulations in the banking industry.”

While Kamloops has taken some economic hits with the shut down of Convergys and Pollard Banknote, the city has enough diversity to fair well, he said.

“We have a pretty thriving small manufacturing industry. The high tech sector is starting to grow as well,” said Sulz.

“It’s really about people’s confidence in the economy. It’s not just about people moving into town, but developers being confident of the economic need and building ahead.”

Jobs are fairly stable in many local businesses, including mining, health and education, he said.

“There’s smaller companies always opening up and growing as well. They’re adding eight employees, or five employees, that’s not always as visible as the 200-employee businesses.”

Adding to that is the fact more retirees are coming to Kamloops from communities with high-priced housing, he said.

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The City’s construction numbers for the first six months of 2010 compared with 2009 is as follows:

p Residential permits issued: 436, 83.

p Residential permit values (includes renovations): $80 million, $24 million.

p Single-family homes: 149, 33.

p Commercial values: $33 million, $27 million.

p Total construction value: $117 million, $54 million.