The 2020 annual report of the Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC) highlighted teetertottering trends that indicate societal shifts in the way we live and work, wrote Fred R. Savana in the Bucks County Herald. 

Single-family homes are down; multifamily housing is up. Office space is down; warehousing/manufacturing sites are up. 

Michael Roedig, BCPC Director of Planning Services, said that of the 998 proposed units for 2020, 820 of them were for multiple families. Only 70 detached single-family units were planned, a stunning drop from highs such as 1987’s whopping 7,666. 

On the commercial real estate side, BCPC Commissioner Evan Stone explained that the “shifting trend in how people are attaining their goods” explains the call for additional distribution centers. More points of shipping equal faster receipt of products at consumers’ store shelves and doorsteps. 

COVID-19 certainly played a role in Bucks County’s overall building plans; however, the BCPC does not expect these trends to change. 

Read the Bucks County Herald story here.