One of the best ways to see how a market is going to perform in the future is to look at the building permits applied for by builders. The Metro Washington, D.C. area is moving up with strength.

Permit applications are up 18 percent across the board for single-family, multi-family and total permits, at 22,350 for 2012, according to http://www.HousingEconomics.com, a web site operated by the National Association of Home Builders (http://www.NAHB.org).

And if anyone was wondering what 2013 will be like in real estate nationally, just look at the numbers – building permits for single family dwellings are up 24% and multi-family building permits are up a whopping 53%.

The total number of permits issued topped out at more than 815,000 (beating out 2011 by nearly 200,000 applications).

For all you data-hounds – here’s the excel spreadsheet link from HousingEconomics.com at this link.