The Atlanta metropolitan area has approved more multifamily housing permits in 2022 than in any previous year tracing back to 1990, according to data from Apartment List and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The metro area approved approximately 21,000 multifamily permits over the course of last year, which also includes the neighboring suburbs of Roswell and Sandy Springs.
The number of approved permits fell dramatically following the 2008 recession, but increased slowly until reaching its previous peak of approximately 17,000 in 2016 and 2018. The pandemic caused the number to drop once again, but tripled year-over-year from 2021’s total of 8,000 permits.
The metro area has continued to approve housing permits at a rapid pace, with the total number of permits approved in January and February of this year reaching 3,707 and 3,407, respectively, per the Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey.
Alternatively, the number of approved single-family housing permits has remained stagnant over the past decade, after also taking a dip following the economic recession of 2008. This statistic witnessed its greatest uptick in the early and mid-2000s, with the most recorded permits – approximately 62,000 – approved in the year 2005. The number of approved permits has fluctuated between approximately 15,000 and 32,000 since 2013.
Apartment List ranked the Atlanta metro area 15th out of a nationwide measurement of the highest ratio of approved permits per 1,000 residents, falling behind markets in Florida, Texas and North Carolina. Just over half of these permits represent single-family housing, while the remaining 44% of permits represent plans for multi-family construction.