The U.S. housing market remains a critical economic issue, with housing affordability and supply at the forefront of bipartisan policy agendas, according to a just-released report.
Expanding multi-family housing—such as townhomes, condos, and apartments—offers one of the most effective solutions to both improve affordability and address the country’s current estimated shortfall of 4.5 million housing units, the report, compiled by constructioncoverage.com, says.
To better understand which areas are building the most multi-family housing, researchers calculated the share of new privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in multi-family structures (two or more units) in 2023.
Here are five takeaways, including data specific to Gainesville:
* Higher-density housing is on the rise
* States: In 42 out of 50 states, the share of new housing units authorized in multi-family structures was larger than the existing share of multi-family structures last year.
* Nation: Overall, between 2009 and 2023, the share of new housing authorized that were multi-family units rose from 24.3% to 39.1%.
* Existing multi-family housing in the Gainesville metro: Currently, 18.8% of the existing housing units in the Gainesville metro are classified as multi-family, compared to 28.6% of the nation’s existing housing stock.
* New multi-family housing in the Gainesville metro: Last year, 8.0% of new housing authorized in the Gainesville metro were multi-family units.
You can read the full study here, including all sources: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-building-the-most-multi-family-housing
(Pictured: Artist rendering of the Gainesville Housing Authority’s Harrison Village for which groundbreaking was held two months ago.)