Residential construction throughout the Twin Cities metro picked up in April, according to a report released Thursday. The area has been plagued by high demand and a supply crunch in recent months.
 
More residential construction permits have been pulled this year than the last nine years, the Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC) said. Compared to February’s record-low figures, both single and multifamily homes construction rates are up.
 
The number of single-family homes being built rose three percent over the course of the year, while multifamily homes have significantly increased in production—once being 24 percent of all residential construction activity in February to 52 percent in April.
 
“This is the upward trend that we were hoping to see this year,” said Meg Jaeger, president of the BATC. “With the Twin Cities existing housing inventory at a record low, we believe this upward trend in new construction will continue.”
 
Thursday’s announcement of a slumping U.S. GDP growth rate of 0.5 percent came with at least one bright spot: increased residential investments. Spending on home construction and home remodeling surged in the first quarter—up 14.8 percent—its steepest market increase since 2012.
 
However, much of that spending is attributable to homeowners upgrading their estate, hoping to take full advantage of today’s limited housing supply.
 
“We’re seeing rapidly rising home prices and the regulatory burden is still pricing many would-be buyers out of the market,” said BATC executive director David Siegel in a statement. “It’s a tough housing market for first time homebuyers right now.”
 
Minneapolis issued the most permitted units with 243 in April, followed by Prior Lake with 178, Blaine and Lakeville with 23 units each, and Plymouth and Otsego rounding out the top five with 19 units permitted a piece.