RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

2025 residential building permit data is now available.

Metropolitan Council staff have tracked residential development across the seven-county region since 1970 in some form, highlighting the close connection between housing market activity and community development and planning.

Housing units gained or lost in the region's cities, townships, and counties are published annually in our residential building permit datasets. These counts are further disaggregated by housing type. Residential building permit data have a six-month lag. The regional dataset for a given calendar year are published the following May.

ON THIS PAGE

Residential development trends in 2024

We've analyzed residential development trends using Metropolitan Councils' Community Designations, planning categories assigned to each city and township based on prevailing characteristics. Key findings include:
  • Nearly 12,400 new housing units were permitted in the Twin Cities region in 2024, the lowest annual total since 2015.
  • The region's Suburban Edge communities permitted most of the new housing units in 2024 at 58%, followed by Suburban communities (14%) and Urban Edge communities (13%).
  • The cities with the most permitted housing in 2024 were Minneapolis (652 units), Minnetonka (625), Rosemount (559), Lakeville (523), Saint Paul (498), Shakopee (471), Woodbury (452), Rogers (450), Maple Grove (442), and Bloomington (441).
  • For the first time since 2010, more detached single-family homes were permitted than multifamily units region-wide.
  • The 15-county Twin Cities metro remained in the top 10 of housing production among large US metros despite low levels in 2023 and 2024.
RELATED VIDEO

Principal researcher Matt Schroeder and planning analyst Maia Guerrero-Combs presented residential development and affordable housing trends to the Community Development Committee on October 6, 2025 in more detail.

Watch the presentation video or view the slide deck (PDF).

Where to find residential building permit datasets

How we develop building permit datasets

We survey local governments annually about residential development activity like building permits and demolitions. We validate and supplement this data with other secondary sources, such as:

  • Reports from the Residential Construction Branch of the Manufacturing and Construction Division of the U.S. Census Bureau
  • Information gathered from County development agencies, local government websites, parcel data, and other administrative records like Metropolitan Council’s Service Availability Charge (SAC) reports
  • Direct conversations with local government staff

New residential units are counted in the year local governments issue building permits; the dataset may be periodically updated to reflect corrections.

Residential Building Permit Survey

Joel Nyhus
Researcher
Data Development and Analysis Team
Community Development Research
[email protected]