With existing housing inventory still at historic lows, new construction is still struggling to make up for the shortage of homes. Single-family permits were once again up a steady 3 percent month-over-month in August, but year-to date single-family is still at a less than 2 percent increase over last year. Multifamily activity also saw a surge this month with an 80 percent increase in the number of permitted units over August of 2017. However, year-to-date multifamily units are down 16 percent compared to 2017.
According to data compiled by the Keystone Report for Housing First Minnesota, there were 680 permits issued for a total of 1,355 units during four comparable weeks in the month of August.
“It’s been a decent summer for Twin Cities homebuilders,” said Tom Wiener, president of Housing First Minnesota. “While we’ve seen steady growth, the market needs a stronger rise in new home construction to help balance the housing market.”
“We have a serious housing supply problem in the Twin Cities,” said David Siegel, executive director of Housing First Minnesota. “We need to address the labor shortage, regulatory burden and fees that are holding back homebuilders and pricing out homebuyers.”
For the month, Lakeville took the top spot with 65 permits issued. Lake Elmo came in next with 45 permits, followed by Plymouth with 38 permits. Rounding out the top five are Woodbury with 30 permits issued and Otsego with 29 permits issued.
AUGUST 2018 PERMIT DATA CHART
