Multifamily Permitting Surges in Major Coastal Markets
Multifamily permitting is up by almost half in New York and has almost doubled in Los Angeles from one year ago, according to the latest data release from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The New York-White Plains/Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie, NY market saw permitting increase 47.9% from last July to 35,888 units, an increase of 11,624 units from the previous 12 month period. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA metro division increased annual multifamily permitting by about 8,300 units for a 97.8% increase to 16,789 units.
However, New York’s activity is spread across multiple boroughs – Brooklyn (8,604 units), The Bronx (8,594 units), Queens (6,801 units) and Manhattan (3,039 units), while Los Angeles’ permitting was heavily concentrated in the city of Los Angeles proper (12,724 units).
After New York and Los Angeles, the remainder of July’s top 10 list for multifamily permitting reflects a retrenchment in development activity across several major Sun Belt metros that have been among the leading contributors to new supply in recent years. Dallas and Houston experienced declines in permitting of about 1,850 units apiece from last July, while Atlanta and Phoenix have slowed as well.
Washington, DC, Raleigh/Durham, Seattle, and Denver show meaningful year-over-year expansion of from 2,000 to 4,000 units, signaling continued development appetite in selected high-demand employment and population centers.
Nine of June’s top markets returned in July with Denver returning to the top 10 list, replacing Miami, which fell to #15 this month.
Although six of the top 10 markets increased annual permitting from one year ago, half had modest increases from their June totals (averaging about 5%). The five month-over-month declining markets averaged a 4% decrease.
In addition to the top 10 expansion markets, other markets with significant increases in annual units permitted in July were San Jose (+4,281 units), Tacoma (+2,725 units), Salt Lake City (+2,534 units), West Palm Beach (+2,308 units) and Tampa (+2,001 units). Overall, the sum of permitted units for July’s top 10 of 146,349 units was up 23% for the year but virtually unchanged for the month (0.8%).
Austin (-3,921 units) and Chicago (-3,253 units) led for annual permitting decreases, followed by Orlando (-2,835 units), Miami (-2,703 units), San Diego (-2,439 units), Columbus (-2,365 units) and Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL (-2,215 units).
Permitting by Place
Below the metro level, eight of June’s top 10 permit-issuing places returned to this month’s list with the first three remaining in order. 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.
After the city of Los Angeles and three of New York’s five boroughs, the list of top permitting places includes the core cities of three of the top 10 permitting metros (Phoenix, Denver and Atlanta).
The city of Phoenix moved down one spot, permitting about 5,700 units for the year, a decrease of 425 units from June’s annual total. The city of Columbus also slipped one spot with a slight monthly decline, but the cities of Denver and Fort Worth increased annual multifamily permitting to move up on the monthly list.
The city of Atlanta slipped two spots from June to #9 but actually increased annual permitting by 152 units, while the city of Austin jumped six places to the #10 spot with an increase of more than 700 units permitted from June to July, at the same time the Austin metro’s annual total fell about 3,900 units for the year.
The city of Miami and Houston’s unincorporated Harris County dropped off the top 10 permitting places list in July, reflecting the declines in their metro totals.
Following the city of Austin, the cities of Dallas and Houston, along with unincorporated Harris County, take the next three spots. California adds the cities of San Jose and San Diego to the top 20, and Florida has the city of Miami and unincorporated Orange County (Orlando) on the list as well. North Carolina is represented by Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) and the city of Raleigh among the top 20 permitting places.
