2018 Survey: Housing Production is Up Around the U.S.

Governing has identified some of the most productive housing markets around the nation, drawing on the Census Bureau to compile 2018 residential construction permitting data for cities with populations exceeding 50,000.

A majority of the 582 cities reviewed issued more permits last year than their historic averages, and more than 135 cities issued permits at double that rate. Oakland, CA issued nearly four times more permits than its annual average.

Apex, North Carolina issued the most permits of any city surveyed, followed by Fort Meyers, Florida. Austin led the list of cities with populations of 300,000 or more, followed closely by Atlanta and Reno.

"Generally speaking, it's the southern cities and parts of the West Coast where growth remains the strongest," Macias writes. Those regions are gaining jobs and population at a similarly rapid rate.

Throughout the country, suburbs outside of cities with hot housing markets had "especially high permitting rates." That includes Frisco in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; Redmond, east of Seattle; Georgetown, outside Austin; and Buckeye, near Phoenix.