The single-family housing market continues to be one of the strongest parts of the overall construction market in 2021, and the most recent data continues to fuel that surge in residential building. On a dollar basis, the U.S. Census Bureau says that through May 2021, there was $402.3 billion spent on residential construction, a +46.1% increase over May 2020. When measured by single-family building permits, the news is even better as the 1.13 million single family permits pulled year-to-date through May is up +50.6% over May 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Things get even more interesting when you analyze the single-family building permit basis by metropolitan statistical area (MSA), where 22 local metros in the 50 MSAs with the most building permits through May 2021 (see chart on at bottom of the page) are even enjoying even larger increases. At the top of the list with a +85.7% increase is the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX MSA south of Corpus Christi, TX, near the Texas border with 1,966 single-family permits, followed by the Columbia, SC MSA (+74.5%) and 2,659 permits; the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA MSA, (+71.7%) and 1,980 single-family permits; and the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA (+71.2%) and 1,068 single-family permits.
While most of the MSAs in the Top 50 are Sunbelt metros that often lead the nation in single-family activity, several other MSAs not known for big-time growth in single-family permits are off to a good start this year, including the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA, with 4,328 permits and +54.1% increase over last year; the Kansas City, MO-KS MSA , with 3,089 permits and a +54.1% YOY increase; the Salisbury, MD MSA, with 2,173 permits and a +55.1% increase; and the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA, with 2,172 single-family permits and a +65.2% increase.
Texas, with 65,100 building permits (and four MSAs in the Top 10), and Florida, with 43,689 single-family permits year-to-date through May, led all other states in total single family permits, but Arizona (20,700), California (15,733) and North Carolina (14,685) are off to strong starts, too.
