Brunswick County’s residential permits had a significant increase in January, according to the latest report released by the county’s building inspections department.

Residential permits issued this January reached 173, a 94 percent increase over January 2018, which had 89 permits, according to the report. The value of new residential construction in January was nearly $50 million, compared to the nearly $30 million in January 2018.

So far in the fiscal year 2018-19, there have been a total of 1,475 residential permits issued, which has surpassed the total number of permits issued in the last fiscal year at 1,307. The value of residential permits issued this fiscal year is nearly $391 million. In all of last fiscal year, the value was $459.

The most municipal residential growth that took place in January was in the town of Oak Island, where there were 24 residential permits issued. The next highest growth was in the town of Leland with 18 permits issued in January, followed by St. James with 15 permits.

Lynn Gulledge, a Realtor with SOHO Islands Real Estate and this year's president of the Brunswick County Association of Realtors, lives on Oak Island.

“New construction on this end -- it continues to be very, very strong and has been over the last several years,” Gulledge said of the town's growth. “And that’s not letting up. People love the beach."

And, Gulledge added, Brunswick County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.

The area that saw the highest value in residential permits for January, however, was in St. James, which was at $10 million. Oak Island trailed behind at nearly $7 million and Leland was at about $4 million.

In January, there were a total of 73 residential permits issued in the unincorporated areas of Brunswick County, with a value of nearly $18 million.

The town of Leland has had the highest municipal growth so far in the 2018-19 fiscal year with 252 residential permits issued and a value of nearly $60 million.

While Brunswick County's residential construction has seen an increase in January, its commercial construction has slightly decreased, according to the report.

There were 23 commercial permits issued countywide in January, a 13 percent decrease from the 26 commercial permits issued in January 2018.

The value of new commercial construction countywide this January, however, was more than $336,000 higher than the previous January. January 2019’s commercial construction value was about $6.4 million, while the value in January 2018 was just over $6 million.

In the current fiscal year, there have been 147 commercial permits issued, while there were 341 issued in all of FY 2017-18. Commercial permits issued so far this fiscal year have valued at about $70 million, compared to nearly $134 million in all of FY 2017-18.

Ocean Isle Beach had the most growth in commercial permits in all of Brunswick County’s municipalities for the month. There were six commercial permits issued there in January, compared to the next highest towns, Caswell Beach, Shallotte and St. James, which each had two commercial permits issued.

St. James was the highest in terms of value of commercial construction permits issued in January. Its value was at $3 million, higher than the commercial values in Shallotte at about $700,000 and $220,000 in Ocean Isle Beach.

There were 10 commercial permits issued in unincorporated areas of Brunswick County in January, with a value of $2.26 million.

The value of municipal commercial permits so far this fiscal year has been highest in Leland at nearly $14 million.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal Assistant Editor Cece Nunn contributed to this report.