Multifamily Permitting – Increasing or Leveling?

Does the recent uptick in multifamily permitting signal the beginning of a new construction cycle or another period of sideways growth?

As we’ve pointed out before, multifamily permitting is turning up again after troughing at about 430,000 units (not seasonally adjusted) one year ago. This followed a surge in production after the COVID-19 pandemic. The January 2026 total of 453,400 units was 5.4% above that low point.

The recent post-pandemic peak of more than 650,000 multifamily units permitted in 2023 was comparable to the mid-1980’s peak (caused by favorable tax incentives), but far less than the early-1970’s level of more than one million units permitted (baby boomer demand) when the modern apartment landscape emerged.

However, the multifamily housing trend doesn’t always move in peaks and valleys as there have been at least two periods of relatively flat growth for extended periods. As seen in the following chart, annual not seasonally adjusted multifamily permitting averaged about 350,000 units per year for about nine years (1998-2007) and averaged roughly 430,000 units per year for around seven years (2015-2021).

It is too early to tell if the current economic and apartment market conditions, as well as the political and financial lending environments will act as headwinds, tailwinds or something in between. We could be entering another period of flat and stable levels of multifamily permitting. It appears likely that apartment development will be a challenging endeavor for the next few years, despite the need for more housing and diminishing new supply in many markets.

At the CBSA level, we are seeing a mixed bag of multifamily permitting trends with half of RealPage’s top 150 markets reporting an increase in permitting compared to one year ago, and the other half unchanged or negative.

Even among the top 10 permitting markets, three were down for the year (New York, Austin and Atlanta) and each was about one-fourth to one-fifth lower than January 2025.

Conversely, each of the remaining seven top 10 markets increased multifamily permitting by 19% to 48% or about 2,200 to 5,000 units.

New York continues to lead the nation for multifamily permitting but has slowed more than 19% from last year (-6,471 units). Dallas and Houston ranked after New York but increased permitting by about 3,800 to 5,000 units each. Phoenix has consistently ranked in the #4 to #6 spot for the past year.

Los Angeles, Orlando and Miami permitted around 11,000 units each for the year, while Austin and Atlanta topped 10,000 units apiece despite slowing for the year. Plucky Columbus, OH moved on to the top 10 multifamily permitting list back in April and has remained either #9 or #10 since.

The sum of permitted units for January’s top 10 of 142,936 units was up 7.4% for the year but unchanged for the month.

In addition to top 10 markets Dallas, Houston, Miami, Columbus, Los Angeles, Orlando and Phoenix, markets with significant year-over-year increases in multifamily permitting include Riverside (+3,249 units), San Jose (+2,427 units), Salt Lake City (+2,247 units) and Denver (+2,068 units).

After New York, Austin and Atlanta, markets with significant year-over-year decreases in annual multifamily permitting in the year-ending January were Fort Worth (-3,145 units), Seattle (-2,854 units) and Charlotte (-2,266 units). Eleven other markets had decreases of 1,000 units or more.

Permitting by Place

Below the metro level, all but one of last month’s top 10 permit-issuing places returned to this month’s list. The list of top individual permitting places (cities, towns, boroughs, and unincorporated counties) generally includes the principal city of some of the most active metro areas.

The city of Columbus remained in the #1 spot in January with more than 7,550 units permitted, a decrease of about 200 units from December’s total. The city of Los Angeles was close behind with almost 7,500 units permitted. The cities of Miami and Orlando ranked next with close to 7,000 units permitted for the year and the borough of Brooklyn close behind with almost 6,800 units permitted.

All of the top 10 permitting places represented top 10 permitting markets with Houston and New York represented by two permitting places each. The cities of Austin and Houston and Unincorporated Harris County (Houston) were the only permitting places in more than one market per state.

Only four of this month’s top permitting places had fewer units permitted for the year than last month, with an average decrease of about 250 units. Conversely, the six other top 10 places averaged an increase of about 300 units (+1,845 units total).