The news that building permits increased by nearly 25 percent during the past fiscal year in Brunswick County comes as no surprise to local builders.

County officials highlighted the figures in a news release Tuesday, announcing that 2,174 permits were issued from July 1, 2014, through June 30 this year, up from 2,193 the previous fiscal year. According to the county, the total value of permitted construction increased by more nearly $250 billion, or about 69 percent.

Signs of increasing growth in home construction have led to more homebuilders entering the Brunswick market.

“Brunswick County is a great opportunity with what it affords people in terms of location. You’ve got the proximity to Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, but you also get a little more space with the area not being as grown up as New Hanover County,” said Rebekah Carr, custom home sales representative for 70 West Builders. “I think that appeals to a lot of people both in the retiree demographic but also families who are looking for a little bit more space.”

Land that had been sitting vacant, including subdivisions stalled by the Great Recession, is coming back on the market “at great prices. I think people are realizing they can get a lot of value for their money by going to Brunswick County,” she said.

Carr’s company, which is relatively new to Brunswick, is raising roofs in the 4,500-acre master planned community Brunswick Forest, in Leland. 70 West is also looking into the possibility of expanding to more areas and sending representatives to trade shows and seminars in northern parts of the country in the coming months to reach the retiree demographic.

Such buyers are very discerning, Carr said, and tend to research neighborhoods and builders thoroughly, making customer service and quality key factors.

“They want to make sure they’re making the most of their money,” she said. “They’ve worked hard to have the money to then buy a home and enjoy it, and we want to make sure that we take that seriously and work with them on that.”

While there are a lot of “bright spots” in Brunswick County and the market is stronger, some areas exhibit lingering signs of the economic downturn, said Cameron Moore, executive officer of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association.

The N.C. 211 corridor, for example, “has still got a number of subdivisions that were approved and still haven’t even started as far as coming out of the ground,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of interest out there, we keep hearing, but the area is still kind of feeling the effects.”

One of those developments on N.C. 211 that was started in the mid-2000s, but had to hit the brakes because of the recession, could be restarted again soon. Madison Hawk, a national real estate firm specializing in structured accelerated sales, is conducting a sealed bid auction for 165 permit-ready residential home sites that are lender-owned in Avalon South, according to a news release Wednesday from the company.

“The Avalon South offering includes 126 fully-improved and ready-to-build lots, and 39 lots approved for future development. The purchase will also include an estimated $500,000 in escrow to be used towards the completion of the community’s infrastructure,” the release said.

According to the release about Avalon South, on-site inspections will be available at 10 a.m. Sept. 16, and the deadline for closed bids is Sept. 24.

Mark Pages, land planner in the Brunswick County planning department, has seen recent “signs of strengthening,” he said Wednesday, some of which are occurring on 211.

One example, Pages said, is Marisol, a mixed-use development proposed on N.C. 211 near Southport. The conceptual plan prepared for Mirasol by Paramounte Engineering proposes 220 multi-family units on 13.8 acres in addition to 110 single-family lots, while the commercial part includes 288,000 square feet of retail space.

Brunswick communities that were farther along have been expanding, he said.

“Certainly the developments that had a decent amount of development prior to the recession – they’re bouncing back quicker because people aren’t as scared to build in there,” Pages said.

A handful of new developments have also been making their way through the approval process too, Pages said.

Commercial construction permits in Brunswick increased by 85 percent from the previous fiscal year, from 226 to 419, the news release said. County manager Ann Hardy said in the release that the increase in both residential and commercial projects was a positive sign of an improving economy.

In terms of residential growth, the market overall has increased exponentially in recent years and months in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties, Moore said. From January to July in New Hanover, more than 670 residential permits were issued by the county, 569 in the same period last year, according to Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association numbers. He added that in all three counties, “we’re starting to see more and more projects going through the planning board and development approval,” Moore said.

The agenda for the Brunswick County Planning Board’s meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 14, for example, includes a public hearing involving a planned development called Empire Place, on Mt. Pisgah and Empire roads near Supply. The proposed development consists of 58 single-family lots, 168 multi-family units and 10 commercial acres, according to the agenda.