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New home being built in Mitchell (Shannon Dueck)
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New home being built in Mitchell.
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The Planning Manager for Hanover says they witnessed an explosion in construction in the second quarter of this year.

Jeremy Neufeld says the first three months of 2025 ended up being fairly average in terms of construction activity. He notes they were cautiously optimistic for the rest of the year.

"And then quarter two came and things, May and June especially, just exploded for us," says Neufeld.

He notes that as soon as road restrictions were lifted in May, the municipality saw a significant uptick in permits.

In the first six months of 2025, Hanover issued 212 building permits, worth a combined $47.3 million. That is well ahead of last year's pace, when there were 162 permits worth $28.2 million issued in the first half of the year. 

The number of new housing starts is also way up over last year's pace. Through six months in 2025, there were 98 permits taken out for $35.8 million. Through the same six months in 2024, there were 60 permits pulled, worth a combined $17.7 million. 

"In construction value, that's over 100 per cent increase in construction value over the same period last year," says Neufeld. 

Neufeld says the best explanation he can give for why the second quarter was so strong is that there seems to be more market confidence in where things are at. 

"People, I think, are just settling into some of these newer normals," he explains. "And we're also seeing an uptick of people moving into the region, needing additional housing."

Neufeld says similar to other recent years, Kleefeld again leads all communities in Hanover in new housing starts. 

"For the last number of years, Kleefeld has been our quick grower," he says. "They have either been number one or number two. They are back in the number one spot at the end of the first half of the year."

Neufeld says Kleefeld has seen 27 new housing starts, followed by Mitchell with 19, Blumenort with 12, Grunthal with eight, New Bothwell with five, and then the rural area has had 27.

However, Neufeld says he anticipates there will be a significant slowdown in Kleefeld next year. He explains they are running out of available lots and says that community does not have the lagoon capacity to handle any additional lots. Neufeld says Hanover needs the regional wastewater treatment facility to be built in order for all communities in the municipality to continue growing. 

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