MEDINA – Home builders in Medina County will remain busy for a while if indications from the Medina County Building Department are a guide.

The county issued building permits for 41 new homes in October. In September, the county issued 44 new home permits, the highest number for any month this year.

It’s not unusual for builders to take out a relatively high number of building permits this late in the year. Chief Building Official Charles Huber reports that his department issued 44 new home permits in October 2015, 36 in October 2014 and 42 in October 2013.

So far this year, the county has issued 361 new home building permits. That puts 2015 on pace to be the biggest year for new home construction in Medina County since at least 2008 when the county issued permits for 387 new homes. Last year, the county issued building permits for 377 new homes.

More new home construction is taking place in Brunswick and Wadsworth which issue their own building permits for new homes. The Brunswick Building Department reported issuing seven building permits for new homes in October and the Wadsworth Building Department issued four. Wadsworth also issued 12 building permits for multi-family buildings with 41 units in October.

The county’s October permit numbers were buoyed by a surge of new home construction in Montville Township. The county issued permits for 11 new homes in Montville in October. That raises the number of new home permits issued in Montville this year to 68, by far the most in the county’s townships and villages.

Brunswick, however, has issued building permits for 90 new homes so far this year.

The next busiest township for new home construction is Lafayette. The county issued permits for five new homes there in October raising the year-to-date total in Lafayette to 43.

Builders also took out six building permits for new homes in York Township in October and four for both Medina and Liverpool townships.

Huber estimated the average construction cost of the 41 new homes issued building permits in October at $282,000. That’s more than the $270,000 average for all 361 homes issued building permits by his department so far this year, but below the 2015 average construction cost of $303,000.

Commercial construction got a slight lift in October when the county issued permits for 20 commercial projects with a total estimated construction cost of just over $2 million. That construction cost is about 20 percent higher than the cost of commercial projects getting permits from the county in October 2015, but so far this year, the value of all commercial construction around the county is down almost 70 percent from 2015.

The biggest projects issued building permits by the county in October were a new storage building for county vehicles in Brunswick Hills estimated to cost $325,000, an eight-unit storage building in Wadsworth estimated to cost $300,000 and two building with multiple attached single-family dwelling units estimated to cost $310,000 and $248,000.

Although Wadsworth issues its own permits for most residential construction, it relies on the county building department to issue commercial building permits in the city.