Multi-Family Housing Completion Times Remain Elevated in 2025 Due to Pandemic-Era Backlogs
By
CalculatedRisk by Bill McBride
Plain bagel done well. Pleasantly substantive.
Summary
Census data shows that the average time from housing start to completion remains elevated for multi-family units in 2025, reflecting residual pandemic-related construction delays. Builders started many units in 2020-2021 in response to strong demand, but faced significant material delivery delays. While some supply chain issues have normalized (e.g., window delivery times dropped from 26 weeks in early 2023 to 4-5 weeks in 2024), the backlog of multi-family projects continues to stretch completion timelines.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIn 2020 and 2021, builders responded to strong demand for both owner occupied and rental units and started a large number of housing units.
However, there were significant pandemic related delays in receiving materials.
In early 2023, they were quoting 26 weeks for delivery. In 2024 they were quoting 4 to 5 weeks (back to normal).
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