New Housing Construction
(Note: This page is part of the 2025 Housing Snapshot report)
From 2015 through 2024, 22,472 new homes were completed in Madison, representing a 20% increase in all housing in the city that existed a decade ago. Most new homes are in multi-family buildings, and many involved the redevelopment of older, less-intensively developed commercial sites and associated parking lots. Over the last decade, about one existing home was demolished for every 22 new homes created through redevelopment.
Trends in Building Size
One-third of all homes completed 2015–2024 were in buildings with 100 or more units, and data for homes completed in 2025 and currently under construction shows a continued trend toward larger buildings. This is likely due to the economies of scale gained when constructing larger buildings, especially as land and construction costs increase, as well as guidance in adopted city plans supporting greater development intensity in areas well-connected by transit and close to other amenities.
Meanwhile, several recent City Zoning Code changes have focused on making it easier to build “missing middle” (small-scale, multi-family) housing either for sale or for rent. These types of homes remain a very small percentage of new housing being built in Madison, where only 9% of housing completed over the past decade is in buildings with 2–24 units. This is due in large part to the high construction costs of smaller-scale buildings for each home created.
However, recent changes allowing construction of small multi-unit buildings in most of Madison’s residential areas may contribute to an increase in this construction type in coming years, and will be an important metric to follow over time as ongoing policy changes allow for small multi-unit buildings in areas formerly zoned solely for single-unit homes.
15% of the homes completed in Madison over the past decade were in 1-unit buildings. This includes single-unit homes and accessory dwelling units.
View Figure Data
Year | 1 unit | 2 units | 3-24 units | 25-99 units | 100+ units | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 303 | 34 | 131 | 662 | 428 | 1,558 |
2016 | 315 | 36 | 47 | 675 | 743 | 1,816 |
2017 | 296 | 44 | 33 | 1,005 | 854 | 2,232 |
2018 | 332 | 26 | 155 | 891 | 121 | 1,525 |
2019 | 465 | 50 | 370 | 1,696 | 905 | 3,486 |
2020 | 433 | 58 | 95 | 604 | 408 | 1,598 |
2021 | 395 | 44 | 166 | 767 | 723 | 2,095 |
2022 | 311 | 60 | 322 | 1,628 | 496 | 2,817 |
2023 | 322 | 44 | 90 | 1,122 | 727 | 2,305 |
2024 | 247 | 24 | 111 | 644 | 2,014 | 3,040 |
Total | 3,562 | 470 | 1,575 | 10,125 | 8,970 | 22,472 |
Annual Avg | 342 | 42 | 152 | 969 | 742 | 2,247 |
Source: City of Madison Building Inspection Division Certificates of Occupancy Issued (2015–2024)
Where New Housing is Being Built
Madison continues to guide growth toward infill and redevelopment within already built-up areas through the Comprehensive Plan and detailed Area Plans in progress. 45% of the homes completed over the past decade are within the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay (including Downtown) and another 10% are located in infill areas (generally bounded by the Beltline Highway and Interstate).
As seen in the map below, the largest concentration of larger-scale redevelopment occurred in Madison’s Downtown (17% of all new homes constructed were Downtown) and along the Isthmus. Areas around The American Center, East Towne, and Odana Road/West Towne have also started to see new construction of larger-scale redevelopment. Meanwhile, most new 1-unit homes are in new neighborhoods on the edges of the city.
