Multifamily Unit Growth

Multifamily construction posted some of the largest growth recorded over the past 45 years in 2017. Construction of units in large buildings grew by 18 percent.

Using Census Bureau data on 2017 multifamily unit completions by building type, National Association of Home Builders researcher Carmel Ford writes that these units encompassed more than half of all multifamily completions for the first time since this data series was started in 1972. Smaller building types had slower growth: structures with nine or fewer units had four percent growth, buildings with 10 to 29 units grew by 10 percent, while buildings with 30 to 49 units decreased by four percent.

Since 2011 for-rent units in large multifamily buildings have grown tremendously, while for-sale unit growth in these buildings has been essentially flat. In 2007, immediately before the Financial Crisis, there was a boom in multifamily for-sale construction, to the point where for-rent and for-sale completions were about the same. In 2017, the gap widened to its highest level since then: for-rent units in large multifamily buildings grew 23 percent to 179,000 (YOY) and for-sale units fell by 63 percent to 8,000 (YOY).

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