The housing bust is pretty severe, but there are some exceptions. Out of 360 metropolitan areas (all that the Census Bureau is tracking), 62 metropolitan areas have increasing housing construction this year. That was a shocker to me. Here’s who is growing, ranked by the percentage change in the January through October total units permitted.
|
Metro
|
% chg
|
|
Hinesville-Fort
|
350.0
|
|
Weirton-Steubenville,
|
273.1
|
|
Lake
|
176.9
|
|
Wichita
|
139.2
|
|
Altoona,
|
127.3
|
|
Anniston-Oxford,
|
104.9
|
|
Hattiesburg,
|
96.9
|
|
Springfield,
|
95.7
|
|
Odessa,*
|
95.3
|
|
Texarkana,
|
94.6
|
|
Santa
|
94.3
|
|
Huntington-Ashland,
|
94.2
|
|
Pittsfield,
|
79.3
|
|
College
|
64.8
|
|
Lawton,
|
64.7
|
|
Wheeling,
|
55.6
|
|
Great
|
49.1
|
|
New
|
41.0
|
|
Missoula,*
|
40.9
|
|
Erie, PA
|
40.1
|
|
Fort
|
39.7
|
|
Amarillo,
|
37.4
|
|
Sumter,*
|
35.5
|
|
Albany-Schenectady-Troy,
|
32.6
|
|
Gulfport-Biloxi,
|
32.2
|
|
Battle
|
31.9
|
|
Terre
|
26.9
|
|
Macon, GA
|
25.4
|
|
Athens-Clarke
|
24.2
|
|
Owensboro,
|
23.1
|
|
Montgomery,
|
22.1
|
|
South
|
21.5
|
|
Salinas,
|
19.7
|
|
Beaumont-Port
|
19.4
|
|
Honolulu,*
|
18.7
|
|
Wenatchee,
|
17.2
|
|
Savannah,
|
15.2
|
|
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton,
|
10.9
|
|
Louisville-Jefferson
|
10.4
|
|
Midland,*
|
10.1
|
|
Bremerton-Silverdale,
|
9.8
|
|
Sioux
|
9.7
|
|
Topeka,
|
8.6
|
|
Yakima,
|
8.3
|
|
Logan,
|
8.2
|
|
Coeur
|
8.0
|
|
Davenport-Moline-Rock
|
8.0
|
|
Champaign-Urbana,
|
7.8
|
|
La
|
7.8
|
|
Harrisonburg,*
|
6.8
|
|
Kingston,
|
6.5
|
|
El Paso,
|
5.9
|
|
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk,
|
5.8
|
|
Elizabethtown,
|
4.6
|
|
Lancaster,
|
4.5
|
|
Tulsa,*
|
3.8
|
|
Lafayette,
|
2.9
|
|
Bismarck,
|
1.9
|
|
Rapid
|
1.6
|
|
Idaho
|
0.4
|
|
Billings,
|
0.2
|
|
Salem, OR
|
0.1
|