New home construction has fallen 40% in Greater Worcester since 2008, with 2023 representing a 10-year low
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A new home under construction in Natick in September 2023
Last year saw 1,349 privately-owned housing units housing permits issued in Greater Worcester, the fewest number of permits issued since 1,341 were issued in 2013.
The 1,349 permits issued in 2023 in the Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area including all of Worcester County and the northeastern part of Windham County, Connecticut, represents a 40% decline from the 2,252 permits issued in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The slowdown in new homes being built comes as Central Massachusetts – and the state and the nation as a whole – are suffering through a housing crisis, where the cost of buying and renting a home takes up more of residents’ income.
The spike in housing costs is attributed to multiple factors, but a major factor has been the limited number of existing homes and new homes being built as demand for housing rises. Nationwide, the number of new homes being built has fallen more than 50% since the Great Recession in 2008, according to reporting by the New York Times.
In Greater Worcester, the number of new homes being permitted has fallen 41% since the Great Recession.
From 1999 to 2007, Greater Worcester saw an average of 2,628 homes permitted per year. From 2009 to 2023, that number fell to 1,560.
The total of 1,349 seen in 2023 is the fifth-lowest total seen since 2000; the lowest total was 791 permits in 2011, in the aftermath of the 2008 great recession. The most permits issued in a year since 2000 occurred in 2004, when 3,692 permits were issued.
A total of 7,484 permits were issued between 2020 and 2023, representing a 5.4% decline from the 7,077 permits issued between 2016 and 2019.
These totals represent the number of new, privately owned housing units authorized by construction permits. The total number includes houses, apartments, or groups of rooms or single rooms intended for occupancy as separate living quarters, but does not include hotels, motels, dormitories, nursing homes, and mobile homes.
The relatively-low number of housing permits issued in 2023 comes as the City of Worcester named increasing the amount of housing stock as one of the goals of its five-year strategic plan.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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Overburdening regulations imposed by the government with regards to the pie in the sky elimination of fossil fuels.
And the current administrations out of control inflation along with too stringent regulations on land development are the main culprits. I almost find it comical that the government is pleading for affordable housing while being the reason it can't be done.
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