Over the first three months of 2020 – and prior to the impact of the coronavirus, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 220,416. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is an 18.9% increase over the March 2019 level of 185,336.
Year-to-date ending in March, single-family permits reported growth across the four regions ranging from 21.7% in the West to 14.9% in the Northeast. In multifamily permits, Northeast (3.8%) & West (10.7%) posted growth while Midwest (-9.2%) and the Southern (-1.2%) region posted declines.
Between March 2019 YTD and March 2020 YTD, 42 states saw growth in single-family permits issued while seven states and the District of Columbia registered a decline. Wyoming remained unchanged during this time. North Dakota recorded the highest growth rate during this time at 63.9% from 515 to 844, while single-family permits in the District of Columbia declined by 75.4%, from 134 in 2019 to 235 in 2020. The 10 states issuing the highest number of single-family permits combined accounted for 64.2% of the total single-family permits issued.
Year-to-date, ending in March 2020, the total number of multifamily permits issued nationwide reached 108,977. This is 1.6% ahead over the March 2019 level of 107,248.
Between March 2019 YTD and March 2020 YTD, 27 states recorded growth while 23 states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline in multifamily permits. North Dakota led the way with a sharp rise (523.5%) in multifamily permits from 17 to 106, while Maine had the largest decline of 71.7% from 669 to 189. The 10 states issuing the highest number of multifamily permits combined accounted for 64.9% of the multifamily permits issued.
