Despite the volatility surrounding the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the housing market has shown remarkable resilience, fueled by demographic tailwinds and a housing shortage due to a decade of underbuilding.  Home construction slowed after 2007 as a result of the 2008 Great Recession, but home building staged a slow, modest recovery over the last decade, with a sharp acceleration in 2020 due to the pandemic.

In 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, builders applied for 979,360 single-family permits, which is 134% higher than the 2011 level of 418,498. For multifamily construction, 491,781 permits were issued in 2020. This is 139% higher than in 2011.

At the state level, Texas takes the top spot as three out of the five largest single-family markets are located in the Lone Star state. The list below shows the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas for single-family permits issued between 2011-2020.

The map below shows total single-family permits issued for all 384 metropolitan statistical areas between 2011-2020. The dark colors denotes the highest number of permits issued while the lightest colors shows the lowest number of total permits issued.

For multifamily construction, areas with a high population density had the highest number of permits issued in the last 10 years. The table below shows the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas which issued the highest number of total multifamily permits between 2011-2020.

The map below shows total number of multifamily permits issued for all 384 metropolitan statistical areas between 2011-2020. The dark color indicates the highest number of total multifamily permits issued while the lightest color shows the lowest number of multifamily permits issued.

Tags: home building, multifamily, single-family, state and local markets, state permits