Building permits shift toward more multifamily in Tampa Bay in 2022
By Chris Erickson
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 18, 2023

The number of residential building permits filed in the Tampa Bay area increased by 8% in the Tampa Bay area in 2022 over 2021, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

This was due to a major increase in the number of permits for multifamily units. In fact, the number of single-family building permits decreased by just under 15% year over year. However, permits for multifamily units nearly doubled, growing from 11,824 in 2021 to 22,137 in 2022.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA led the trend toward multifamily, where nearly half of building permits were for multifamily units. The other two local metros, Lakeland-Winter Haven and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, were at 25% and 30% multifamily, respectively, which was on par with the previous five years.

Overall, the total number of residential units covered by building permits increased 75% over the past five years, from 33,072 in 2018 to 57,960 in 2022.