Average Time to Complete a Multifamily Building in 2023 Increased to 19.9 Months

According to the 2023 Survey of Construction (SOC) from the US Census Bureau, with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average length of time to complete construction of a multifamily building after obtaining authorization was 19.9 months in 2023.

After an increase of 2.3 months in 2022, the permit-to-completion time inched 0.1 months higher in 2023. This is a result of an ongoing skilled labor shortage and as supply chain issues were still challenging the industry, NAHB said.

NAHB notes that the average time to build multifamily homes varies with the number of units in the building. The more units, the more time required to build. In 2023, buildings with 20 or more units took the longest time, 22 months, to build after obtaining authorization. Properties with 10–19 units required 21.5 months. However, 2–4-unit buildings came in at 18.7 months, which took longer time than 5–9-unit buildings, which was 16.9 months.

Compared to 2019, only buildings with 5–9 units took a similar time to complete. The construction process required 3.3 more months to complete multifamily buildings with 2–4 units, 2.8 months more for 10–19-unit buildings, and 3 months longer to finish for properties with 20 or more units.

Finally, the 2023 SOC data also show a significant regional variation in the average construction duration of multifamily buildings. The West had the longest time from authorization to completion at 20.9 months, followed by the Northeast at 20.8 months, and then the South with 19.5 months. The shortest permit-to-completion period happened in the Midwest with 17.3 months.