Texas Multifamily Permitting Continues to Cool

While still strong enough to place two major markets among the nation’s top multifamily permitting markets in June 2026 (three in the top 15), Texas saw a significant drop off in permit activity in the past few months.

After peaking at almost 97,000 combined units permitted in February 2023 for Texas’ five major metros – Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio – the latest combined total as of June was 45,062 units, less than half the previous peak.

Interestingly, these five Texas markets averaged a fairly level combined amount of close to 53,000 units permitted for nearly two years, ending three months ago. Since February 2026, permitting levels have dropped by about 10,000 units.

Much of that recent decline in units is attributable to Dallas and Houston but Austin has seen a welcome significant decline over the past few years (down by more than half from a peak of almost 22,000 units to 8,760 units in June). San Antonio has also put the brakes on new apartments with a drop from a peak of 13,248 units permitted for the year-ending June 2023, to just 1,126 annual units in June.

Returning to the top 10 permitting markets, nine of May’s top markets returned in June with New York, Dallas and Los Angeles again the top three. Phoenix and Houston switched places for the next two spots, while Washington, DC jumped to #6 (from #8 in May), ahead of Atlanta. Raleigh/Durham also moved up, knocking Miami down, while Seattle took the #10 spot away from Denver.

Five of the top 10 markets increased annual multifamily permitting by 33% or more in the past year, led by Los Angeles (+94.9%), Washington, DC (+54,2%) and Raleigh/Durham (+46.6%). In addition to the decreases in Dallas and Houston, Miami and Atlanta saw modest declines in permitting among the top 10 from one year ago. Phoenix was essentially unchanged.

In addition to the expanding top 10 markets, other markets with significant increases in annual units permitted in June were San Jose (+5,078 units), Tacoma (+2,405 units), Salt Lake City (+2,374 units), Cincinnati (+1,991 units), and Madison, WI (+1,950 units). Overall, the sum of permitted units for June’s top 10 of 145,382 units was up 20.3% for the year but down 0.4% for the month.

Austin (-4,321 units) and San Antonio (-2,552 units) led for annual permitting decreases, followed by Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL (-2,340 units), Chicago (-2,253 units), Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL (-2,220 units) and Orlando (-2,154 units).

Permitting by Place

Below the metro level, all of May’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.

The city of Los Angeles held the top spot, followed by the boroughs of Brooklyn and The Bronx. The city of Phoenix moved up two spots, knocking the city of Miami down to #10. The city of Columbus and the Queens borough each permitted close to 5,500 units with the city of Atlanta permitting about 5,000 units to rank #7. The city of Denver and Unincorporated Harris County (Houston) switched places in June at #8 and #9, with the city of Miami last on the top 10 list.

The cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Austin still made the top 20 list but are on the wane. Additionally, the Dallas suburb of Frisco fell out of the top 20, as did the Manhattan borough.

Only four of this month’s top 10 permitting places had more units permitted for the year than last month, with an average increase of about 580 units. Led by a 1,846-unit decrease in the city of Miami, the six other top 10 places averaged a decrease of about 640 units from last month (-3,817 units total).

Texas placed five of the top 20 permitting places on June’s list (one less than in May), followed by three each for New York and California. North Carolina and Florida again contributed two places each.