Single-family homes may become harder to come by if the trend of decreasing permits for them continues. Only 15 states and the District of Columbia saw rises in single-family permits since September of 2018 while multi-family permits increased in 32 states and D.C. in the same time frame.
Over the first nine months of 2019, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 647,244. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 2.6% decline over the September 2018 level of 664,665.
Year-to-date ending in September, single-family permits reported declines in all four regions. Midwest reported the steepest decline by 6.4%. The West, Northeast, the South, declined by 6.0%, 3.0%, and 0.1% respectively, compared to the same time period in 2018. The Northeastern region had the highest growth in multifamily (22.3%) while the Midwest recorded a decline in multifamily permits growth (-1.2%) during the last 12 months as housing affordability concerns reduce production of both single-family and multifamily residences.
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