The Madison region is seeing a fall in new building permits, though they still remain above pre-pandemic levels, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. It’s a worrisome sign as Dane County needs 7,000 additional housing units annually to keep up with demand.
Economic obstacles like elevated interest rates and labor shortages continue to threaten necessary housing development in the state’s fastest-growing region, even as permitting in the four-county metropolitan statistical area — which includes Dane, Columbia, Green, and Iowa counties — is about double what has been recorded nationally.
New permits in the Madison metro peaked at 10.6 housing units per 1,000 people in 2021. That number fell to 7.9 units in 2022 and 7.6 in 2023. Most of that new permitting was accounted for by multifamily housing, which saw a 78% increase between 2021–23 from the three years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is also currently on track to set new records for multifamily housing permits.
Multifamily housing growth went negative nationwide at the end of 2023.
