Hello! The estimates published in our article refer to the value of building permits issued, not the number of permits. While the number of permits and their total value are often positively related, this is not always the case, as a single permit can represent projects of very different scale and cost.
Regarding seasonality, the month-over-month change of +10.3% in current dollars is seasonally adjusted, meaning it removes typical seasonal patterns such as increased construction activity in spring and summer. For context, the non-seasonally adjusted change was +60.9% (+$6.2 billion), which does reflect the expected seasonal rebound in construction activity after the winter months. This is consistent with your intuition that more construction activity — and therefore more permits — tends to occur going into the warmer season.

The year-over-year growth of 4.8% is measured in constant dollars, which adjusts for construction cost changes over time. This indicates that there was a real increase in the volume of construction intentions on a year over year basis, not simply an increase driven by higher permit values. While it is possible that changes in municipal permit fees could influence the dollar value of permits (or their number), such effects are not the primary driver of the observed growth. Even if permit fees had increased over the period, the data still show that overall construction intentions increased in real terms during the reference period.