Top Multifamily Permit Markets Converge in April

Four of April’s top 10 markets for multifamily permitting came together around an annual total between 11,400 and 12,300 units, after each market was permitting at very different levels one year ago.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Austin, Orlando, Phoenix and Atlanta finished the year-ending April with multifamily permitting totals close to each other. Orlando was the only one of those four to see an increase in units permitted from last April, increasing by 4,351 units for the year. Meanwhile, Atlanta decreased permitting by 3,088 units, Phoenix decreased by 5,891 units and Austin plunged by 7,910 units from last year.

In addition to Austin, Phoenix and Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, DC had significant declines in annual multifamily permitting of about 4,000 to 4,500 units, respectively, among the top 10 permitting markets. Conversely, New York, Dallas and Houston had modest increases for the year, while Columbus, OH saw their unit count increase by almost 22% or 1,431 units to 8,060 units.

New York continued to lead the nation for multifamily permitting, followed by Dallas, Houston and Austin. Orlando, Phoenix and Atlanta again followed this month’s top four markets, but Los Angeles reemerged onto April’s top 10 list at #8, followed by Columbus and Washington, DC.

Last month’s #9 – Miami – slipped to #16 as their annual permitting dropped by 3,186 units. Tampa also experienced a decrease of more than 3,000 units in annual multifamily permitting with both Miami and Tampa totaling close to 6,800 units for the year-ending April.

Other markets with significant year-over-year decreases in annual multifamily permitting in the year-ending April were Denver (-2,866 units), Minneapolis-St. Paul (-2,748 units), Jacksonville (-2,690 units), Greensboro/Winston-Salem (-2,426 units), Salt Lake City (-2,268 units) and Seattle (-2,083 units). Fourteen other markets had decreases in permitting of 1,000 units or more.

In addition to Orlando and Columbus, markets with significant year-over-year increases in multifamily permitting include Chicago (+2,240 units), Anaheim (+1,721 units), Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR (+1,710 units), Omaha (+1,319 units), Des Moines (+1,224 units), Augusta, GA (+1,220 units) and Milwaukee (+1,190 units).

Below the metro level, eight of last month’s top 10 permit-issuing places returned to this month’s list with four remaining in the same place. The list of top individual permitting places (cities, towns, boroughs, and unincorporated counties) generally include the principal city of some of the most active metro areas.

Last month’s top three permitting places – Brooklyn, Atlanta and Mecklenburg County – remained in place in April with the city of Columbus moving up to the #4 spot. Unincorporated Harris County (Houston) rejoined the top 10 list at #5 and the city of Austin moved up three spots to #6 (despite the metro slowing by almost 8,000 units from last year).

The Bronx borough slipped to #7 but the city of Los Angeles remained in the #8 spot as Miami plunged to #9 from #5 in March. The city of San Diego displaced Unincorporated Travis County (Austin) at the #10 spot with 4,578 units permitted for the year, an increase of 115 units from March.

Texas still dominates the top permitting places top 20 with six places, while New York, California, Florida and North Carolina have two spots each.

This post is part of a series by RealPage Senior Real Estate Economist Chuck Ehmann analyzing residential permits and starts data from the U.S. Census Bureau. For more on this data, read previous posts in the Permits series.