The pace of home construction can be complicated. There are many factors at play when it comes to U.S. markets that can add inventory, including rising mortgage rates and rapid home value appreciation and supply chain challenges.
An analysis by Construction Coverage, a website that provides construction industry software and insurance overviews, found that the U.S. cities that build the most homes and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area rank No. 5 among mid-sized metropolitan areas.
According to the analysis, Cape Coral-Fort Myers saw 30.7 new housing units built per 1,000 existing homes, placing the market among the top 10 in the U.S. with an average sales price of $390,185.
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Wilmington, North Carolina ranked #1 with 42.5 new homes per 1,000 existing homes.
The US housing market is facing a major shortage of housing supplyaccording to the study. The lack of supply has been exacerbated by:
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Significant underinvestment in new housing since the Great Recession: The collapse of the housing market in the mid-2000s and the subsequent recession created a need for permitting historical lows.
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The number of new permits for residential units has slowly recovered over the past decade, but in June 2024 the number of new permits fell by almost 25%, after a peak in January 2022.
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Making matters worse, the construction industry struggled to keep up with production during the pandemic, as labor shortages and disrupted supply chains made it harder and more expensive to obtain building materials.
As a result, more single-family homes experienced months-long delays in construction start and completion times compared to previous years.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Cape Coral and Fort Myers among U.S. homebuilding leaders
