Nationwide Housing Figures Also Echo LAO

One of the most common talking points found in the Bay Area's supply-denier movement playbook is that "we are already overbuilding market rate housing and therefore we should focus exclusively on providing new deed-restricted housing units." And because so many in the Bay Area housing policy arena tend to look outside the region for comparative purposes only when there is a new or more stringent regulatory burden on housing being applied elsewhere, the Bay Area's so-called "boom" in new market-rate housing is rarely put in national context. A recent analysis for Forbes [http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2015/12/17/the-cities-doing-the-most-to-address-the-u-s-housing-shortage/#17f5425c7430] compared metro areas nationwide in terms of new housing production compared to their existing housing stock. Despite having an already inadequate and overcrowded existing housing supply that makes new production appear higher on a percentage increase basis, the Bay Area didn't even crack the top 10, with San Jose-Silicon Valley coming in at 18th and San Francisco 38th among large metro areas. Indeed, during the period studied (2011 through 2014), the entire Bay Area permitted roughly the same number of new units as the Seattle area. The top 10:

No. 1: Austin, TX
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 35,687
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 35,288
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 11.5%

No. 2: Raleigh, NC
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 15,478
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 26,892
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 10.6%

No. 3: Houston, TX
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 65,261
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 124,373
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 9.7%

No. 4: Charlotte, NC
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 20,195
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 35,536
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 7.1%

No. 5: Orlando, FL
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 19,306
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 30,883
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 6.8%

No. 6: Nashville, TN
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 13,966
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 27,292
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 6.7%

No. 7: Dallas, TX
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 63,978
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 84,351
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 6.7%

No. 8: Oklahoma City, OK
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 4,342
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 21,000
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 5.5%

No. 9: Jacksonville, FL
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 5,812
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 20,404
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 5.5%

No. 10: Seattle, WA
New Permitted Multifamily Units, 2011-14: 38,803
New Permitted Single-Family Units, 2011-14: 31,563
New Units As Pct. of 2010 Housing Base: 5.4%