Conshohocken permitted 24 single-family houses from January to August 2026, more than in any full year since 2015

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 08:37:39 -0400

Conshohocken issued permits for 24 new single-family houses from January through August 2026, according to the Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey, a monthly count of new homes authorized by each local permit office. The borough permitted none in the same eight months of 2025. The 2026 total is already above every full year from 2016 through 2025, when the most was 13, and one short of the 25 permitted in all of 2015. The permits carry a combined construction value of $5,677,276, the builders’ estimate written on the permit. The borough reported to the Census Bureau in all eight months, so the figures come from its own reports.

Each new house adds a roof that will come back to the borough’s permit office at its first replacement. The guide to when Conshohocken’s houses were built describes the age of the houses already standing.

Conshohocken's 2026 permits stand out from the past decade

New single-family housing units permitted in Conshohocken borough, January through August of each year, 2017 to 2026

Census Bureau year-to-date files for August. The borough reported fewer than eight months in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and the Census Bureau estimated the rest. Source: www2.census.gov

New housing units permitted in Conshohocken borough, January through August, 2017 to 2026
year	Single-family units	Months reported
2017	12	8
2018	2	8
2019	8	8
2020	4	4
2021	4	1
2022	3	0
2023	0	8
2024	7	8
2025	0	8
2026	24	8

Source: www2.census.gov

How the count changed in July

Most of the 2026 total comes from one filing. The year-to-date file through June listed 2 single-family houses, both permitted in February, and one building with 21 units in the category for buildings of five or more units. The file through July moved those 21 units into the single-family count, raising it to 23. The Census Bureau’s documentation says its year-to-date files include late reports and corrections for prior months. One more house in August brought the total to 24.

The Census Bureau counts a rowhouse or a townhouse as single-family when a ground-to-roof wall separates it from its neighbor and it shares no heating, air conditioning or utilities with it. The permit file gives no addresses and does not say which kind of house these are. After the correction the 21 units carried a combined value of $4,582,420, or about $218,000 each.

Conshohocken borough in the Census Bureau's 2026 year-to-date files. The 21 units counted in buildings of five or more through June moved to single-family in the July file.
Year-to-date file	Single-family units	Units in buildings of 5 or more	Permit valuation ($)
January to June 2026	2	21	4384501
January to July 2026	23	0	5238488
January to August 2026	24	0	5677276

Source: www2.census.gov

Permits by township

Lower Merion permitted the most new homes nearby, almost all of them in apartment buildings. The township reported a 270-unit building valued at $68,000,000 in February and an 86-unit building valued at $28,011,000 in August, for 356 units in buildings of five or more. Over the same months of 2025 it permitted one building of 426 units.

Upper Merion shows 164 single-family units for January through August, against 176 a year earlier. The township reported no months in 2026, and the Census Bureau estimated its figures. Its definitions page says it bases those estimates on the assumption that a place that did not report authorized the same share of its prior-year total as places that did. In the years the township reported every month, its counts were large: 484 single-family units in 2022 and 203 in 2023.

Whitemarsh fell to 4 single-family units from 28. Plymouth had 8, against 9. West Conshohocken shows 1, an estimate, because the borough reported no months.

New housing units permitted, January through August 2026 and 2025. Upper Merion and West Conshohocken figures for 2026 are Census Bureau estimates.
Place	Single-family units Jan-Aug 2026	Single-family units Jan-Aug 2025	Units in buildings of 5 or more Jan-Aug 2026	Units in buildings of 5 or more Jan-Aug 2025	Months reported in 2026
Conshohocken	24	0	0	0	8
West Conshohocken	1	1	0	0	0
Plymouth	8	9	0	0	8
Whitemarsh	4	28	0	0	8
Upper Merion	164	176	0	0	0
Lower Merion	10	9	356	426	8

Source: www2.census.gov

A longer look

From 2014 through 2025 Conshohocken’s single-family permits fell from 50 to 3 a year. The borough’s one large apartment permit in that span was a 168-unit building in 2025, after August. Whitemarsh permitted more than 100 single-family units in both 2017 and 2019. Upper Merion’s counts rose sharply from 2022.

New single-family housing units permitted by year, 2014 to 2025. Upper Merion's 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025 figures are Census Bureau estimates.
year	Conshohocken	West Conshohocken	Plymouth	Whitemarsh	Upper Merion	Lower Merion
2014	50	2	19	6	14	27
2015	25	2	3	50	19	27
2016	13	4	6	66	2	42
2017	12	11	5	103	7	34
2018	9	4	6	81	18	26
2019	8	4	10	105	16	26
2020	4	2	24	59	17	17
2021	7	0	45	2	21	17
2022	5	0	23	11	484	27
2023	3	0	15	38	203	14
2024	11	1	28	74	279	19
2025	3	1	11	35	266	12

Source: www2.census.gov

New housing units permitted in buildings of five or more units, by year, 2014 to 2025
year	Conshohocken	Plymouth	Whitemarsh	Upper Merion	Lower Merion
2014	0	398	5	0	0
2015	0	0	10	0	0
2016	0	0	0	838	250
2017	0	0	0	346	229
2018	0	0	40	946	287
2019	0	0	0	36	261
2020	0	0	22	269	226
2021	0	12	0	264	0
2022	0	0	0	0	0
2023	0	20	0	0	55
2024	0	0	0	0	217
2025	168	0	0	0	426

Source: www2.census.gov

What to check when you buy a new house

Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act covers roof replacement and repair over $500. Its definition of home improvement lists exclusions, and the first reads: “The term does not include: (i) The construction of a new home.” The law’s contract rules, explained in the guide to what a roofing contract has to include, apply when you hire someone to replace that roof years later. They do not govern the purchase of the house itself. For what the builder promises about the roof, read the purchase agreement, and ask a real estate attorney what it covers.

Conshohocken’s Use and Occupancy Permit page says an owner needs the permit for any building that is erected, and that the borough issues it only after its officials certify that the building complies with its ordinances. The fee for a single-family dwelling is $100. You can ask Licenses and Inspections, 610-828-1092, for the building permit and inspection records of a house, or request them with the borough’s Right to Know form. The roof inspection checklist lists what to look at on the roof itself.

Caveats

The 2026 figures are the Census Bureau’s year-to-date files, which it revises as late reports and corrections arrive, as the July change in Conshohocken shows. The annual file for 2026 will replace them. A permit authorizes construction, and the file does not say when or whether building starts. The value on a permit is the builder’s or the permit office’s estimate of the cost of the structure, which can differ from the price a buyer pays.

Figures for any year in which a place reported fewer than 12 months, or fewer than 8 in a year-to-date file, include the Census Bureau’s estimates. In 2026 that applies to Upper Merion and West Conshohocken. An estimate can differ a great deal from the final count. Conshohocken’s year-to-date file for August 2016, with three months reported, showed 37 single-family units, and the 2016 annual file, with all 12 months reported, showed 13. The chart starts in 2017 for that reason.

The files count new homes only. They leave out re-roofing permits and other work on existing houses, which the borough issues under its building permit and roof addendum, as the guide to roofing permits in Conshohocken describes.

Housing stock | Conshy Roofers

Conshohocken permitted 24 single-family houses from January to August 2026, more than in any full year since 2015

How the count changed in July

Permits by township

A longer look

What to check when you buy a new house

Caveats