With an estimated gap of roughly 3.7 million homes, America’s housing supply shortage continues to keep costs elevated for both renters and would-be buyers, making housing affordability a shared priority across the aisle. Expanding multi-family housing—such as townhomes, condos, and apartments—offers a promising solution to scale supply and temper price growth.
In the 2025 edition of Construction Coverage’s U.S. Cities Building the Most Multi-Family Housing report, researchers analyzed the latest Census Bureau data to determine the cities and states with the highest shares of new privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in multi-family structures (two or more units) in 2024.
Key Findings, With Data for Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
- Multi-Family Housing Investment in Charlotte Metro: Last year, 26.9% of all new housing units authorized in the Charlotte metro were multi-family—the 14th smallest share of any large U.S. metro. This amounts to a total of 6,981 new multi-family units, compared to the single-family total of 18,954.
- Nationwide, Multi-Family Housing Is On the Rise: The U.S. issued 496,089 multi-family permits in 2024—more than triple the 2009 market-collapse low of 141,800. Still, this figure falls well below the recorded high of 1.2 million in 1972.
- Historical Leaders Continue to Prioritize Higher-Density: Many of the states with a higher share of their existing housing classified as multi-family also lead the nation in new multi-family stock, led by New York (77.5% of new units authorized last year), Connecticut (64.1%), and Massachusetts (60.8%).
- South and Mountain West Lag: West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, and Oklahoma have 18% or less of their housing stock composed of higher-density units, and issued similarly low shares of new multi-family permits in 2024.
The full report covers nearly 400 U.S. metros and all 50 states, with breakdowns of each location’s share of new permits in multi-family vs. existing stock, total units by building size (structures with 2, 3–4, and 5+ units), and total new single- and multi-family units. We’ve also included a link to high-resolution, downloadable graphics at the bottom of this email.
