New home construction in Medicine Hat picked up in June, but is well behind last year’s totals, according to figures released yesterday by the city’s planning department. Through the first 6 months of the year, the number of building permits for single family homes is down about 10 per cent. Last month, 13 new homes were approved, making for a total of 57. At this time last year, there were 64 home starts in the city. The average construction cost was also off slightly in 2015, showing a drop of about $10,000 to $264,000, not including land costs.