Report: Cities in Sarasota, Lee lead nation in new apartment permits

North Port and Cape Coral are among the national leaders in permits issued for multifamily units, according to a new report.

The two Gulf Coast communities rank in the top five in a report released by Redfin highlighting the state of the multifamily sector nationally. Orlando; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas are the others topping the list.

According to the findings, in Lee County's Cape Coral there were 59.6 permits issued for apartments units for every 10,000 residents. In North Port, a south Sarasota County city, there were 53.3 permits issued for every 10,000 persons.

(The report’s authors looked at permits issued between April 2024 and March 2025.)

Those localities are also the exception.

Nationally, fewer apartment developers are looking to build, Redfin reports, with developers obtaining 12.4 permits for every 10,000 people in the U.S. over the past year.

That’s down 27.1% from 17 permits for units per 10,000 people “during the pandemic building boom” and 5.5% from 13.1 permits for units per 10,000 people in the years leading up to the pandemic.

In all, 63% of major metros are issuing fewer permits than they were during the pandemic, according to the findings.(The pandemic period is considered 2020 to 2023. The pre-pandemic period is considered the years between 2014 to 2020.)

A chart included in the report shows the peak number of permits for units were issued in 2023 when, nationally, 19.8 permits for multifamily units were issued per 10,000 people.

The report’s authors say the reason for the recent slowdown is that rents are flattening and borrowing costs are higher, “making building less attractive.”

As for why several Florida communities are bucking the trend, Chen Zhao, the head of economic research at Redfin, says in an email to the Business Observer that one of the reasons is that “even though migration to Florida has slowed, people are still migrating there from the northeast because it’s still more affordable.”

“Florida metros are seeing some weakness in the multifamily market right now, but prices rose so much that they’re still higher than they were during the pandemic,” Zhao writes. “Also, builders find it easier to build in Florida than other locations.”