Should beginners raise the permanent before levels and buildings?

Yes, the permanent first — that's the basic principle of progression in Dragonfire, because the game resets an enormous amount every 8 weeks (one Reign).

Put your effort into what stays:

• Stars (Relics) and Habits (Breedmarks + Cores) → they never reset.
• Unlocked Heirlooms → permanent too.

Your dragon level, buildings and research reset every season: useful to be strong now, but not worth over-investing in, since you'll have to redo it all. The right balance:

• keep a level that's "good enough to play" this season,
• but steer your gold/Relics/Cores toward permanent capital.

And at the start of each Reign, quickly re-grind House Level and your key dragons' levels to get operational again.