- New York permitted 37,691 multifamily units in the year ending September, up 52.7%, and Los Angeles nearly doubled to about 18,000 units.
- Washington, Boston, Seattle and the combined Bay Area all grew permits by 37% to 47%, while Dallas, Houston, Austin and Miami fell by 11,004 units combined.
- The top 10 markets permitted 148,456 units, up 14.5%, a sign capital is pulling toward coastal hubs and away from the Sun Belt supply wave.
Coastal gateway metros are pulling ahead on multifamily permits. New York leads the nation at 37,691 units over the 12 months through September, a 52.7% jump, per RealPage Analytics’ read of Census Bureau data.
Los Angeles took second place at about 18,000 units, nearly twice its total a year ago.
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Coastal Hubs Surge
Washington, D.C. holds the fifth spot after a 47.4% increase, roughly 3,900 units. Seattle dropped to 11th, but its permits grew about 2,400 units, or 36.7%.
Boston ranks 16th of the 150 markets RealPage tracks, at 7,460 units, a 44.7% gain. The Bay Area’s three markets (San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco) rank low individually, yet together they issued permits for 11,543 units, up 46.8%, enough for seventh place.
Sun Belt Cools Off
Phoenix and Atlanta held about steady. Dallas, Houston, Austin and Miami together lost 11,004 units of annual permitting.
Raleigh/Durham was the lone non-gateway top-10 market with a meaningful gain, adding 3,153 units. Orlando posted the biggest annual decline at 4,572 units, with Dallas and Houston next.
The Top 10 and Beyond
The 10 biggest markets together permitted 148,456 units, a 14.5% increase on the year-earlier figure and little changed from August.
Kansas City added 2,187 units and West Palm Beach 1,932. Columbus gave back 2,911, Riverside-San Bernardino 2,162 and San Diego 2,100.
At the city level, Los Angeles led the country. Three New York City boroughs claimed spots among the five busiest places, and Fort Worth climbed to sixth. Denver and Miami entered that top 10, each at about 5,500 units.
Four of the top 10 metros (Dallas, Houston, Washington and Raleigh/Durham) had no city in the top-10 place ranking, though Houston, Dallas, Durham and Raleigh proper all landed among the top 20. D.C.’s permitting is spread across its suburbs rather than concentrated in one jurisdiction.
Why It Matters
Permits are the earliest read on where apartments will arrive two to three years out. A gateway-heavy pipeline suggests supply returning to places where rents are already firm.
CRE Daily’s earlier brief on urban core permits found the top 10 up 25% through August, with building clustered in city cores. September fits that pattern.
It also complicates the construction recovery story, since RealPage counted 128,000 authorized but unstarted units in August.
What’s Next
The next Census release will show whether the gateway surge holds or the Sun Belt pullback deepens. Starts, not permits, will confirm which projects actually break ground.
