The June 2025 Quarterly Survey of Construction & Development Activity (Construction Quarterly Survey for short) was conducted from June 3 – 18, 2025 and received 47 responses from leading multifamily construction and development firms.
The Construction Quarterly Survey began in March 2022, and in June 2024 the survey was revised to better capture current trends and the most relevant indicators in the multifamily construction market. Historical data from each of our surveys, both before and after revision, can be found as downloadable spreadsheets on our website.
In this iteration of the survey, additional forward-looking questions were added around labor availability for multifamily construction and the availability of multifamily construction related materials. For all forward-looking questions, standard diffusion indices have been added to the downloadable spreadsheet, those also referred to in the following analysis.i
Construction Indicators 2Q 2025 (% of Respondents)
Construction
43%
Experienced
Delays
Pricing
72%
Saw Deals
Repriced
Logistics
11%
Reported Labor Less Available
Logistics
32%
Reported Labor More Available
Inputs
26%
Experienced Materials Delays
In the June 2025 Construction Quarterly Survey, 43% of respondents reported experiencing construction delays over the last three months, falling from 58% in March (78% in December and 52% in September). This marks the lowest level of reported delays since the survey began and the first time the share of respondents has fallen below 50%.
Respondents continue to cite the Southeast (e.g., Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, etc.) as a region where delays are particularly acute (35% of respondents), followed by the Great Lakes (Chicago, etc.) at 15% and Appalachia (Nashville, etc.), the Mid-Atlantic (DC, etc.), the N. West Coast (San Francisco, Seattle, etc.), the Rockies (Denver, etc.), the S. West Coast (LA, San Diego, etc.) and Texas (Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc.), all at 10%.
Of those experiencing delays, 85% of respondents reported delays in permitting (an increase from 79% in March) and 70% reported delays in starts (down from 93% in March and marking the lowest share since the survey began in March 2022).
The most frequently cited cause for delays in starts over the past three months was economic uncertainty, at 71% of respondents (up from 68% in March and 42% in December), while more than half of respondents (57%) separately cited economic feasibility and permitting, entitlement and professional services as reasons for delays.
Availability of construction financing remained one of the most commonly cited causes for delayed starts (29% of respondents, down from 33% in March and 37% in December), although that share has now decreased for six consecutive quarters.
The share of respondents attributing delays to materials sourcing and delivery rose notably this round to 21%, up from 15% of respondents in March and 0% in both December and June 2024. Meanwhile, only 7% of respondents selected staffing shortages as a reason for delayed starts.
Over the past three months, how long, on average, have municipalities reported it would take before you receive building permits?
| June 2025 | March 2025 | December 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 2 Months | 11% | 7% | 11% |
| 3-4 Months | 38% | 31% | 37% |
| 5-6 Months | 17% | 25% | 11% |
| 7-8 Months | 6% | 8% | 11% |
| 9+ Months | 13% | 17% | 19% |
| N/A | 15% | 13% | 11% |
Forty-five percent of respondents this quarter reported additional project requirements unrelated to actual construction being imposed in their jurisdictions, down from 54% last quarter and 74% in December. Those who reported additional project requirements highlighted offsite improvements, Affordability requirements and impact fees.
The share of respondents who reported deals repriced down decreased to 34% (from 50% in March and 59% in December), while those reporting deals repriced up increased to 38% (up from 25% in March and 22% in December). The share reporting no repricing of deals fell to 19%, from 22% in March.
Those who saw deals repriced, in either direction, reported an average +4% change, same as in March.
Overall market conditions: A market conditions index value of 47 for the short term (having risen from 40 in March) reflects that more respondents expect short-term decline than improvement (17% compared to 11%), although less so than last quarter (those shares being 28% and 8% in March). Over the next 3 months, a large majority of respondents (70%) expect overall market conditions to remain the same, up from 64% in March and 81% in December.
As was the case in the previous four quarters, respondents are more optimistic about overall conditions in the medium term (an index value of 52, with 57% of respondents expecting conditions to remain the same) and long term (index value of 71, with 55% of respondents expecting conditions to improve).
Construction costs: A construction cost index value of 43 for the short term indicates a higher share of respondents expecting increasing costs (32%) relative to decreasing costs (17%), the index having fallen below breakeven in March (with an index value of 36) after three quarters of an above-breakeven reading. Roughly half (51%) of respondents expect construction costs related to multifamily construction to remain the same in the short term, from 48% in March and 69% in December.
Expectations in the medium and long term were nearly identical to last quarter—index values of 35 and 34, respectively, from 35 and 33 in March—with a plurality of respondents for both time frames expecting increasing construction costs.
| Overall Market Index | Construction Cost Index | |
|---|---|---|
| Over the next 3 months | 47 | 43 |
| Over the next 3-6 months | 52 | 35 |
| Over the next 6-12 months | 71 | 34 |
Equity financing: In all three time frames, expectations around equity financing availability went largely unchanged from last quarter. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported they expect short term availability to remain unchanged, although the short-term index value of 42 (also 42 in March) indicates that a higher share of respondents are expecting less availability (22%, up from 20% in March) relative to more availability (7%, up from 4% in March) in the next 3 months.
The equity financing index for the medium term came in at 55, although that value has fallen for the past three quarters, from a high of 66 in September 2024. In the medium term, a plurality of respondents (52%, from 46% in March) again reported they expect equity availability to remain about the same. Long-term expectations were again optimistic, with 70% of respondents expecting more availability over the next 6-12 months, up from 66% in March, producing an index reading of 81 for the long term.
Debt financing: Expectations around debt financing availability were also similar to those in March for all three time frames. The majority of respondents (65%, up from 64% in March) expect debt availability to remain about the same, with an index reading for the short term of 58 reflecting a higher share expecting more availability (24%, from 22% in March) relative to less (9%, from 7% in March).
For the medium term, the equity financing index read 60, down from 66 in March and 71 in December. The majority of respondents (52%) this quarter said they expect availability in the medium term to remain about the same; however, the share of respondents expecting more availability, albeit larger than the share expecting less, decreased to 33% (from 39% in March and 42% in December).
Long-term optimism persisted with an index reading of 76, with 56% of respondents expecting debt to become more available (from 63% in March) and 33% expecting availability to remain about the same.
| Equity Financing Index | Debt Financing Index | |
|---|---|---|
| Over the next 3 months | 42 | 58 |
| Over the next 3-6 months | 55 | 60 |
| Over the next 6-12 months | 81 | 76 |
Labor availability: A nearly even share of respondents expected labor availability to increase (22%) as opposed to decrease (24%), generating a short-term index reading of 49. Slightly under half of respondents (48%) reported they expect labor availability for multifamily construction to remain about the same over the next 3 months.
The labor availability index also read 49 for the medium term, driven by 28% of respondents expecting more available labor and 30% expecting less. Thirty-seven percent of respondents expect availability to remain about the same over the next 3-6 months. A tighter labor market is expected in the long term, with an index value of 39 (22% of respondents expecting more available labor and 43% expecting less).
Materials availability: With 20% of respondents expecting materials to be less available, compared to 7% who think they will be more available, the short-term materials availability index came in at 43 this quarter. The majority of respondents (69%) report they expect the availability of materials related to multifamily construction to remain about the same in the short term.
An even higher share of respondents reported they expect less availability of materials in the medium term (39%) and long term (40%), resulting in indices of 35 and 37, respectively. Forty-eight percent of respondents expect materials availability to remain about the same in the medium term and 38% expect similar availability in the long term.
| Labor Availability Index | Materials Availability Index | |
|---|---|---|
| Over the next 3 months | 49 | 43 |
| 3-6 months from now | 49 | 35 |
| 6-12 months from now | 39 | 37 |
Respondents reported mixed labor conditions, although with more signs of loosening compared to last quarter.
Fifty-one percent of respondents reported construction labor availability to be roughly the same as three months ago (from 50% in March). The share reporting more available labor was relatively unchanged (32%, from 28% in March and 30% in December), while 11% reported labor to be less available (down from 16% in March and 0% in December).
Same as in March, 26% of respondents reported experiencing delays with specific materials, while 66% reported no specific material delays (up from 62% in March). Of those reporting delays, emphasis was again placed on delays related to electrical gear.
Lastly, 15% of respondents again reported an increase in subcontractor defaults over the past three months, while 74% reported no increase in defaults (down from 76% in March).
How does the availability of construction labor compare to three months ago?
| June 2025 | March 2025 | December 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| More available | 32% | 28% | 30% |
| Less available | 11% | 16% | 0% |
| Roughly the same | 51% | 50% | 59% |
| N/A | 6% | 5% | 11% |
iDiffusion indices are calculated by taking one-half the difference between the percent of positive (e.g., more available, improving conditions) and negative (e.g., less available, declining conditions) responses and adding 50. This produces a series bounded by 0 (if all respondents answered in the negative) and 100 (if all respondents answered in the positive). These standard diffusion indices are convenient summary measures showing the prevailing direction and scope of changes, in this case changes in respondents’ future expectations. A value above 50 reflects that expectations, on balance, are more positive. Likewise, a value below 50 reflects that expectations are more negative.
