Columbus Multifamily Housing Permits Hit 7-Year High After Zoning Reform

Multifamily permitting—the critical pipeline for new rental units—remains well below pre-pandemic levels in large U.S. cities. But a handful of major metros are bucking this trend, led by a Midwestern powerhouse where bold zoning reforms have unlocked development.

Columbus, OH, has emerged as the leading permitting juggernaut across the nation’s 50 largest metros. According to the Realtor.com® June 2026 rent report released on Tuesday, Columbus achieved a permit rate of 4.3 new multifamily units per 1,000 residents last year—its highest level since 2019.  

This dramatic surge in Columbus has been tied to the city’s landmark Zone In initiative, a sweeping zoning reform that is projected to pave the way for up to 88,000 additional residential units over the next decade.

Passed in 2024, the radical update to the city’s 70-year-old zoning code aims to boost housing supply in Columbus by introducing several aggressive reforms, including eliminating minimum parking requirements for developers, creating six new districts to allow for denser residential projects “by right,” and rezoning along major transit corridors to maximize development.  

The initial phase of the project rezoned close to 5% of the city, or approximately 13,000 parcels. Building on that momentum, last summer city leaders unveiled an even more ambitious Phase 2 of Zone In seeking to rezone 43% of Columbus—more than 66,000 land parcels—to encourage greater development and job growth.

“As we face one of the most significant housing challenges in our city’s history, we can’t rely on a zoning code written 70 years ago to guide our future,” said Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans. “That is why it is so important to continue our efforts to modernize our zoning code. Phase 2 of Zone In continues our critical work to create a more equitable and responsive land use policy that will help unlock housing opportunities in every neighborhood.”

Data from the Building Permits Survey suggests that Columbus city leaders’ strategy is paying off. The metro recorded the fifth-largest increase in permit rates among the top 50 markets, jumping from 3.4 per 1,000 residents in 2024, when Zone In was first introduced, to 4.3 last year. 

Crucially for Columbus residents, this permitting wave appears to be helping keep a lid on housing costs. In June, the median asking rent in the Midwestern city was $1,180, marking a 1.5% year-over-year decrease and cementing its spot as one of the most affordable major rental markets in the U.S.

The Sun Belt and Silicon Valley

Only four other metros outpaced Columbus in year-over-year permitting gains, with a trio of Florida metros—Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami— at the head of the national pack, and San Jose, CA, finishing in fourth.

Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu calls the uptick in permitting activity in San Jose “encouraging,” offering a glimmer of hope that more multifamily construction could eventually drive down the metro’s notoriously high rents tied to the Silicon Valley’s AI boom. In June, San Jose’s median asking rent climbed over 3% annually to $3,423—the highest level in Realtor.com data record.

Columbus is not alone in seeking to build its way toward more budget-friendly multifamily housing. Looking at other metros boasting their highest permitting rates since 2019, Las Vegas came in second overall, posting 1.9 new permits per 1,000 residents in 2025.

Xu notes this 0.9-point increase from 1.0 in 2024 represents a rebound from a previous retreat.

Las Vegas’ permitting resurgence is closely tied to its booming job growth requiring new rentals to house professionals flocking to the metro. 

According to a recent study from the National Association of Home Builders, Vegas maintains the third-highest jobs-to-multifamily permits ratio at 7.5, meaning that nearly eight new jobs are created within the metro for every multifamily unit approved.

Other standout cities seeing meaningful permitting bumps include Oklahoma City, OK, Birmingham, AL, Providence, RI, and Cleveland, OH. 

“While the current rate in these markets is still low, these legacy low-growth markets appear to be finally ticking up, which could give renters more fresh options to choose from,” says Xu. 

Notably, Oklahoma City has earned the distinction of having the lowest median asking rent of just $920 among the top 50 metros in June, down more than 2% year over year. 

Metros seeing permitting pullbacks

While some cities are accelerating, others are experiencing setbacks. Permitting data analysis reveals that while Austin, TX, had the highest permit rate in 2025 among the 50 largest metros, at 4.5 units per 1,000 residents, it was also the market that saw the sharpest year-over-year rate pullback of 1.4 points from 2024 to 2025. 

Meanwhile, New York City and Boston posted their lowest permit rates since 2019, at just 1.6 and 1.1 new units permitted for every 1,000 residents, respectively. 

Xu argues that among all the metros in the dataset, New York City’s permitting trajectory is the most alarming.

“Its permit rate has not only fallen to its lowest level since 2019, but the decline from 2024 to 2025 was also its sharpest year-over-year rate drop on record,” she says. 

Nationally, June marked the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year rent declines across the top 50 metros, with the median asking rent registering at $1,692, $25 less than the prior year. 

According to Xu, though the median rent is expected to tick up on a monthly basis as summer progresses, representing a typical seasonal pattern, the wave of fresh multifamily construction is expected to deliver modest financial relief during the second half of 2026.