Maine's first year of statewide housing permit data is in. The results show real progress toward the State's housing goals and raise important questions about where and what type of housing is getting permitted.
In 2024, HR&A worked with Maine's Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) to better understand housing needs across the State, ultimately estimating that Maine would need more than 84,000 homes by 2030 to meet projected demand and address existing shortages.1 That analysis, which helped establish Maine's first-ever regional housing production targets, quickly raised a harder question: how would anyone know if the State was actually on track?
For most states, that question is surprisingly hard to answer. Local governments issue permits and states sometimes set policy, but reliable data connecting the two rarely exists. Maine decided to change that.
In 2025, the Maine Legislature passed LD 1184, requiring municipalities with populations of 4,000 or more to submit standardized housing production data to the State, including residential building permits, certificates of occupancy, and demolition permits. HR&A used HousingWeaver to help design and build the data infrastructure behind that effort, including the State of Maine Housing Data Portal — a central repository of housing, demographic, and economic data that now includes monthly-updated permit data submitted by municipalities across the State.
For the first time, Maine has a statewide system capable of tracking not only how much housing is being permitted, but also what types of housing are being built and where growth is occurring. The system also proved manageable for local governments: 182 municipalities submitted data, most completed the process in less than an hour, and the majority did not seek the reimbursement they were entitled to receive.
The first year of data is now in, and while the dataset will grow more powerful with each year of reporting, several findings already stand out:
- Maine exceeded its 2025 housing permit target, permitting approximately 7,500 homes statewide. While permits are not a perfect measure of production — since not all permitted homes get built — they provide a strong leading indicator.
- Housing growth per capita is concentrated in lower-population recreation and seasonal communities, raising important questions about whether housing production is occurring at sufficient scale in many of Maine's workforce and employment centers.
- The data establishes a strong baseline for measuring the impact of statewide housing reforms, including efforts to encourage ADUs, multifamily housing, and other missing-middle housing types.
- The process was fast and easy for local governments — most municipalities completed it in less than an hour, and 90% of required municipalities complied.
Is Maine on Track to Meet Its Housing Goals?
Maine exceeded its 2025 production target, as measured by housing permits. To measure progress toward the estimated 84,000 homes the State will need to meet projected demand and address existing shortages by 2030, Maine established statewide housing production targets that ramp up over time,2 beginning with a target of 6,900 homes in 2025.
Using locally reported data where available and Census Building Permit Survey (BPS) data elsewhere, Maine permitted approximately 7,499 homes in 2025, exceeding its annual target by roughly 599 units, or 9 percent. After accounting for 518 demolition permits, the estimated net increase in permitted homes was approximately 6,981 units.
While permits are the current metric the State is using to track production, it is not a perfect measure, because not all permitted homes actually get built. Certificates of occupancy provide a better measure of housing delivery, but the first year of reporting revealed that only 61% of municipalities currently issue them. Expanding certificate of occupancy reporting will be an important next step as the State's program matures.
Where Is Housing Being Built?
In 2025, the highest permitting rates, measured on a per-capita basis, were concentrated in lower-population recreation and seasonal communities rather than Maine's employment centers. While recreation-oriented communities face significant housing pressures of their own, these findings raise important questions about whether housing growth is occurring at sufficient scale in the communities where workforce housing demand is greatest and where employers are reporting challenges attracting and retaining workers.
In 2025, Maine's second-largest metro area, Lewiston-Auburn, permitted around 3.8 new homes per 1,000 residents; Augusta permitted 2.2 per 1,000 residents; and Bangor permitted 1.0 per 1,000 residents. Meanwhile, ski towns and lake communities with small populations are permitting new homes at several times those rates, for a housing stock that largely serves second-home buyers, seasonal workers, and visitors.
As a single year of data, these findings should be interpreted as an early snapshot rather than a long-term trend. Housing permitting can vary substantially from year to year, particularly in smaller communities where one or two large developments can significantly influence annual permitting rates. Nevertheless, the first year of reporting provides an important baseline for understanding where housing growth is occurring.
What Types of Homes Are Being Built?
In 2022, Maine passed landmark housing legislation, LD 2003, which allows property owners to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential areas and up to two to four units on lots zoned for single-family housing statewide. One of the most valuable aspects of the new reporting system is that it will allow Maine to track whether these reforms and others are translating into more diverse housing production patterns over time.
In 2025, single-family homes accounted for 65 percent of all permits issued. Large multifamily developments (5+ units) accounted for 21 percent, while ADUs and small multifamily buildings (2–4 units) represented 7 percent and 6 percent respectively.
Greater Portland and the Androscoggin Valley are seeing the most diverse mix of development types. In Greater Portland, production was split between single-family homes (43%), large multifamily developments (37%), ADUs (9%), and small multifamily buildings (10%). The Androscoggin Valley similarly shows a substantial 5+ unit share (31%), concentrated in Lewiston. These two regions account for the bulk of Maine's non-single-family production.
ADU production was particularly strong in the South Coast (12%) and Greater Portland (9%). Municipalities with the highest share of ADU permits included Lyman (43%), New Gloucester (40%), Buxton (33%), and Arundel (32%).
Larger multifamily properties (5+ units) were almost entirely driven by seven municipalities, each with 50 or more large multifamily units: Portland (479), Biddeford (169), Lewiston (152), Sanford (122), Bath (98), Windham (74), and Westbrook (62).
Affordable housing production is concentrated in a small number of communities. Only 12 municipalities reported permitting any income-restricted affordable housing units in 2025 (13% of total permits). Portland and Lewiston alone accounted for 528 (73%) of all 722 reported affordable housing permits statewide.
This first year of data establishes the baseline. As reporting continues, the State will be able to track whether production is diversifying and whether affordable pipelines are expanding beyond the communities that are currently reporting.
Looking Ahead
The first year of reporting demonstrates the value of investing in better housing data. And with most municipalities completing the process in under an hour, it shows that building that infrastructure does not have to come at the expense of local governments.
While the data shows Maine exceeded its 2025 housing production target, it also highlights important questions about affordability, housing diversity, and whether housing growth is occurring in the communities where it is needed most. As the State's production targets ramp up over time, this information will be essential for helping state and local leaders understand where progress is being made and where additional action may be needed.
Curious what this kind of data could reveal about housing production in your community? HousingWeaver helps states and regions build the data infrastructure to answer that question →