With loosened restrictions on “micro-housing,” tiny units now make up as much as 66% of newly constructed housing.
A growing share of new housing units in U.S. cities are ‘micro-apartments’ that measure under 441 square feet, according to a report by Mary Salmonsen in Smart Cities Dive. Cities with the highest percentage of micro-apartments in the pipeline include Seattle (66 percent), Boston (56.2 percent), and Newark (49.8 percent).
The growth of micro-apartments is due in part to the housing crisis and recent zoning changes made by cities to accommodate higher density and more housing. “Seattle’s wave of new micro-housing construction coincides with zoning reforms passed in 2024 that permit micro-apartments in all areas zoned for multifamily housing, according to the StorageCafe report.”
As far as existing housing goes, San Francisco has the highest share of micro-apartments, at 14 percent of its apartment inventory. Today, 28 percent of the city’s pipeline is small units. “Out of the top 10 cities with the largest share of micro-apartments, seven are located in the West, with only one — Philadelphia — on the East Coast.”
Read the full story: Tiny apartments a big deal in many US cities
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