MARIETTA — The month of July brought a much-needed boost in the single-family home construction segment of the economy in Cobb County. Unincorporated Cobb and its six cities issued a total of 103 single-family home permits in July, up more than 75 percent from the same month a year ago. In July 2011, only 58 permits were reported.

As expected, unincorporated Cobb County had the most permits, with 71 issued. Smyrna was the usual front-runner among the cities with 12 permits, up from seven in the same month last year.

Marietta was the only city to see a decrease from 2011’s monthly numbers with just nine permits issued, compared with 20 in July 2011. Acworth issued two permits in July, and Austell and Powder Springs both reported zero permits in July 2012, the same as in July 2011.

Year-to-date, 668 housing permits have been issued across the county, up 25 percent from the same period in 2011, in which 533 permits were issued.

Of the two permits issued in Acworth in July, both were pulled by Marietta-based Kerley Family Homes for houses in the Enclave of Historic Acworth subdivision near Highway 92 and Main Street.

Joe Kerley said his company has built and sold 21 new homes in Cobb this year — more than his company sold in all of 2011, and there are still five months left in the year.

“We have seen great sales through all the price points up to $400,000,” Kerley said. “Generally, we have been selling the most homes in the $150,000 to $250,000 price points.”

Don Sabbarese, professor of economics and director of Kennesaw State University’s Econometric Center at the Coles College of Business, said private-sector job growth is “the most positive source of demand for housing in metro Atlanta.”

“New-home sales remain higher than housing starts, which leads to lower inventories and the need for more housing starts,” Sabbarese said. “Housing starts are still substantially below their pre-recession level, but are moving in the right direction.”