With less than a month’s supply of homes for sale in the Twin Cities, homebuilders continue to ramp up activity, seeking to make up for a decade of lackluster production in the region due to increased barriers. The metro area saw a 60% increase in single-family construction for the month of April with 762 permits pulled for new homes. Multifamily construction in the metro continues to fall with 389 permitted units, a drop of 35% over this time last year.
“Our region is in dire need of additional homes, particularly more affordable homes, and we are feeling that pressure as homebuilders,” said Todd Polifka, 2021 president of Housing First Minnesota. “Unfortunately, the challenges have only grown during the past year for homebuilders to bring needed and desired single-family homes to the market at prices for all families.”
According to data compiled by the Keystone Report for Housing First Minnesota, there were 796 permits issued for a total of 1,151 units during four comparable weeks in the month of April.
“Yes, we’re performing well compared to last year. Demand is strong, and interest rates are low. But, we’ve been building at woefully inadequate levels for more than a decade, even as our population has been growing. Now, in addition to long-standing regulatory barriers, new headwinds are arising, and we are growing more concerned as an industry each day,” said David Siegel, executive director of Housing First Minnesota. “Bottom line, policymakers must act on proposed policies at the Legislature that will bring down the cost of housing. If not, too many families will be left out of the opportunity for homeownership and this situation will become even more dire.”
For the month, Lakeville took the top spot with 67 permits issued. Cottage Grove came in next with 51 permits, followed by Otsego with 46 permits. Woodbury with 45 permits and Dayton with 38 permits rounded out the top five.
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