Multifamily permits outpace construction in 2011 via HousingWire

Multifamily permits surpassed the sector's construction rate for the last three quarters of 2011, while single-family construction remained flat.

Prior to the housing collapse, the country built five to six times more single-family homes than apartment buildings, said Polina Vlasenko, a fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. Today, that ratio is about three to one.

New permits for multifamity buildings doubled since mid-2009, and permits exceed completions by a healthy margin. Most of the increase in overall housing permits results from the construction of multifamily structures, as shown below.

The relationship between new building permits, an approximation of future construction, and completed housing units indicates whether a market is booming, flat or retracting. When the number of permits is above the number of units completed, as it was for most of 2011 in the multifamily sector, construction will probably increase.

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