“Missing Middle” Construction Hits 17-Year High in Q3

On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that its analysis of “missing middle” construction showed significant improvement in Q3. The “missing middle” consist of apartments in 2-to-4-unit properties and has been generally disappointing since the Great Recession, according to NAHB.

In Q3, there were 6,000 2-to-4-unit housing starts—double the pace from a year ago.

As a share of all multifamily production, 2-to-4-unit development was just above 6% of total multifamily development for Q3. However, this is still lower than recent historic trends. From 2000–10, such home construction made up a little less than 11% of total multifamily construction.