This story was originally published on CRE Daily. Join 70,000+ commercial real estate professionals getting daily news, market insights, and industry analysis delivered straight to their inbox with the free CRE Daily newsletter.
Key Takeaways
Multifamily buildings averaged 18.9 months from authorization to completion in 2025, 0.7 months faster than in 2024.
The timeline remained 3.5 months longer than 2009 and nearly seven months above the 2013 period low.
The Northeast had the longest average permit-to-completion timeline at 21.9 months, while the Midwest was shortest at 16.6 months.
Eye on Housing reports that multifamily construction timelines improved modestly in 2025. Census Bureau Survey of Construction data show an average 18.9 months from permit authorization to completion, down about 0.7 months from 2024 despite the industry’s continued shortage of skilled labor.
Longer Than Historical Norms
The 2025 improvement did not reverse the longer-term increase in construction duration. Permit-to-completion time remained 3.5 months above the 15.4-month average recorded in 2009. It was also almost seven months longer than the 12-month period low in 2013. Most of the increase occurred during the construction phase. Average start-to-completion time rose from 13.4 months in 2009 to 16.5 months in 2025.
The source attributes part of that increase to a growing share of larger multifamily properties, which generally take longer to deliver.
The Details
Project size remains a major differentiator. Buildings with 20 or more units took 21.7 months from authorization to completion in 2025. That was slightly faster than 22.1 months in 2024 but far above 16.2 months in 2015. Two-to-four-unit buildings finished fastest at 14.9 months, compared with 15.3 months in 2024 and 12 months in 2015.
Projects with 10 to 19 units averaged 18.5 months. Five-to-nine-unit buildings took 21.5 months, up from 19.1 months in 2024 and 13.2 months in 2015. The results show that the 2025 improvement was not uniform by size. Most categories shortened modestly, but five-to-nine-unit buildings moved in the opposite direction and took longer than in 2024.
Regional Timelines Remain Uneven
The Northeast posted the longest average permit-to-completion period at 21.9 months. The West followed at 20.6 months, while the South averaged 17.5 months. The Midwest had the shortest timeline at 16.6 months.
Those differences show that the national average masks a wide range of development schedules. Longer multifamily development timelines can therefore look very different depending on project size and region. The spread between the Northeast and Midwest was 5.3 months in 2025, underscoring the regional variation in the survey.
