Historical Building Permits

Residential Construction

The Metropolitan Council uses building permit data to monitor the location and pace of housing development within the seven-county region. While the U.S. Census Bureau collects building permit data from local building officials, the Metropolitan Council conducts its own annual survey with final counts typically 4 to 6 percent higher than those published by the Census Bureau due to more communities responding. The two data collections differ in their geographic scope, housing type categories, and reporting of permit valuation.

Visit Download Tabular Data to obtain data on residential building permits from the Council’s survey going back to 1970. Data from the Census Bureau are available directly through their Building Permits Database.

Historical annual analyses of residential construction trends are available as pdf files:

MetroStats: Twin Cities Residential Construction: Glimmers of Hope in 2010
MetroStats: Did Twin Cities New Housing Starts Bottom Out in 2009?
MetroStats: New Housing Construction Permits in the Twin Cities Region, 2008
MetroStats: Residential Construction in the Twin Cities Region - 2008 Preliminary*
2006 Residential Building Permits*
2005 Residential Building Permits*
2004 Residential Building Permits*
2003 Residential Building Permits*
2002 Residential Building Permits*
2001 Residential Building Permits*
* Based on the Census Bureau data collection.

Commercial, Industrial and Public Construction

Data on commercial, industrial and public construction, also known as nonresidential building permits, provide a region-wide view of development outside of residential purposes, representing the range from neighborhood retail stores to large manufacturing facilities.

The Metropolitan Council gathers information from communities in the seven-county area through an annual survey on building permits. The survey asks local governments to report permits for new projects and building additions with a value of at least $100,000 with the goal of measuring the amount and type of new space added to the region. The Metropolitan Council does not count permits issued for alterations and renovations that do not add square footage. Council staff supplement survey responses with data from the Service Availability Charge records collected by Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, and other information sources.

Historical summaries of commercial, industrial and public construction are available as pdf files: