Princeton's single-family permit table in the October 20 development-board packet records 282 permits for September 2026, compared with 137 in September 2025. That is an increase of 145 permits, or approximately 105.8%, calculated from the published counts. The packet's own rounded comparison is 106%. Official report, packet page 4
September is one month, not the whole year
The same table records 1,470 permits for January–September 2026. Adding the corresponding nine months in its 2025 row gives 1,272. Our calculation puts the nine-month increase at 198 permits, approximately 15.6%.
That is a different comparison from September's year-over-year jump. Comparing nine months of 2026 with all twelve months of 2025 would mix periods. The table leaves October, November and December 2026 blank; those blanks do not mean zero permits were issued in a completed final quarter.
How the recent months compare
Reporting period | 2025 permits | 2026 permits | Difference, our calculation |
|---|---|---|---|
July | 127 | 130 | +3 |
August | 134 | 268 | +134 |
September | 137 | 282 | +145 |
July–September | 398 | 680 | +282 |
January–September | 1,272 | 1,470 | +198 |
The third-quarter increase is larger than the nine-month increase because the first six months ran lower: 790 in January–June 2026 versus 874 in the same 2025 period, calculated by adding the published monthly entries. This is why a single busy month cannot stand in for the year's entire pattern.
What a permit count does and does not establish
The city's Permitting Department describes application processing, plan review and inspection coordination. A permit is not a count of completed homes, sales or households that have moved in. This report does not establish a construction-completion date, an occupancy count or the number of children entering a school district.
For a family considering a new home, use the exact property and project records for the questions that affect the purchase. A citywide monthly count cannot establish that a particular builder has finished a home, that utilities are ready or that a specific road is open.
Where this report sits in the public record
The comparison is included under building-permit staff reporting in the joint EDC/CDC packet posted October 14. The agenda labels its staff-report section no action. Publishing a report in that section is not a new zoning approval or a vote to authorize all the projects behind the count.
Our October 20 joint-meeting preview explains the separate bylaw-review items and the rescheduled meeting. The permit figures and governance review are different subjects within the same packet.
Use the numbers with the right question
Y'all can use this series to follow the pace of reported single-family permitting while keeping household decisions tied to the actual address. Our school-boundary verification guide and Princeton kids guide offer separate planning resources.
The report was checked October 16, 2026, including a visual review of the table. Totals and percentages labeled as our calculations use the published monthly figures. We have not independently audited the city's underlying permit records, and these counts do not establish a cause for the change or predict home prices.