New home building slumped just 9 percent in June in the Indianapolis area, the smallest monthly drop so far this year.

Builders got 416 building permits last month, compared to 459 in June of last year, reports the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.

Only two of the nine metro-are counties, Hancock and Morgan, saw an increase in building permits.The number of permits issued in Marion County fell 18 percent, to 87. In Hamilton County, builders applied for 164 permits, a drop of 5 percent from a year ago.For the first half of this year, permits issued for new homes in the nine-county area have fallen 31 percent, to 1,737. The monthly drop in the first five months ranged from 57 percent in January to 28 percent in May.The National Association of Home Builders said this week that one-fourth of homebuilders around the country are losing buyers because of appraisals coming in below the sale price of the newly built houses. Half of the time, the low appraisals are below the cost of building the new home, the trade group said.The homebuilders group called on appraisers to stop using the prices of nearby foreclosed and other distressed homes in their appraisal process to estimate the value of new homes.Inappropriate appraisal practices are “needlessly driving down home values” and “putting a drag on the economic recovery,” the national homebuilders said.