Construction spending, starts and completions are all reported after the fact. Permits are not. A permit is filed before the crew shows up, before the materials are ordered, and before the job shows up in anyone’s quarterly numbers — which is why suppliers, contractors and investors plan around them.
What a year of permits looks like
Virginia Beach publishes its permits as open data, and its feed in the Buildstats catalog is complete from 2023. Three full years:
| Year | All permits | Electrical | Mechanical / HVAC | Plumbing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26,548 | 5,760 | 3,966 | 3,145 |
| 2024 | 27,820 | 5,251 | 4,061 | 3,337 |
| 2025 | 28,891 | 5,281 | 4,732 | 3,377 |
Distinct permits by issue date (application date where no issue date); trade columns count permits whose type or description names the trade.
Total volume grew about 4% a year — steady. The mix underneath it did not hold still: mechanical and HVAC permits rose 19% from 2023 to 2025 while electrical fell. For an HVAC distributor, that shift is the difference between being stocked and being short.
Why the monthly cadence matters
Annual totals tell you what happened. Monthly files tell you what is happening. A Buildstats subscription delivers a fresh file of every permit dated in the trailing 12 months, every month — new permits in, status changes applied — so a market’s direction shows up in your model the month it turns.
Permits read better with context
A permit count is a volume. Joined to the property it describes, it becomes a market:
- Parcels from Land Records add land use, year built, building size and owner to every permit, so you can split Virginia Beach’s HVAC permits into owner-occupied homes, rentals and commercial buildings.
- Zoning from ZoneOptics — Virginia Beach’s ordinance is read into districts, uses and dimensional standards — shows where the permitted work can grow: which districts allow more units, taller buildings, or new uses.
Get Virginia Beach’s permits
Virginia Beach city is available now: the full history, or the past 12 months refreshed monthly. Browse every county we cover.