The first official survey of Maine housing building activity shows the state made progress toward its housing goals last year. But the data raises questions about whether that growth is concentrated in communities where it is needed the most and how much affordable housing is being created.

Towns and cities across Maine issued 7,499 building permits in 2025, according to new data released last week. About 518 housing units were demolished. Altogether, that left the state with about 9 percent more than the 6,900 building permits Maine established as an annual goal in 2024.

Municipalities with more than 4,000 people were required to submit information about building permits, certificates of occupancy, demolitions and more for the first time this year after the Maine Legislature passed a bill requiring the data collection to better understand what kind of building is happening and where. The information is seen as crucial to understanding what policy and regulatory changes need to happen to reach Maine’s goal of adding up to 84,000 new housing units by 2030. The nonprofit Greater Portland Council of Governments oversaw the data collection for the state.

The data shows about half of the counties met building permit goals set by the state two years ago. The new units were largely market-rate housing, with only 13 percent reported as having some kind of income restriction. The majority of units permitted were single-family homes.  Accessory-dwelling units, or ADUs, made up about 7 percent of permits, something Maine has tried to encourage in recent years. 

The report marked the first time the state has gotten a comprehensive picture of housing construction across Maine, with officials from 182 towns submitting data. But it is only a snapshot of one year’s worth of construction, and it raises questions about what kind of housing is being prioritized. Some said more detailed information, such as how quickly permitted projects become occupied, would help show what hang-ups might be happening in the housing building process.

“There’s some good news, and then there’s some questions about next steps,” said Laura Mitchell, executive director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition.

Towns that saw the highest number of new building permits per capita were concentrated in popular summer destinations in western Maine, according to the state’s report, with Newry, in Oxford County, seeing 53.9 permits per 1,000 residents last year, followed by Carrabassett Valley and Rangeley, both in Franklin County, and Sebago, in Cumberland County. 

Portland issued the most building permits overall, 548 units, but that amounted to just 7.9 permits per 1,000 people. Of communities with more than 20,000 residents, Biddeford had the highest per capita rate, with 9.8 permits per 1,000 residents. 

York and Cumberland counties saw the second- and third-highest rates of building permits issued overall, with 6.4 and 5.7 permits per 1,000 residents. But those counties also have the highest annual goals set by the state’s 2024 housing report. Both missed their overall targets but not by much, with York County missing its goal of 1,600 units by about 150 homes and Cumberland County missing its target of 1,920 homes by 75 units. Contrast those high-population counties with Washington County, which ended with more than double its state-set goal of 80 units, or Franklin County, which issued 76 more permits than its 210 per year goal.

“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,” the state noted in a blog post examining the data.

The data collection also served as a probe into municipal building practices. Towns were asked about the number of permitted units that would be deemed “affordable” by having some sort of income restriction if they had that information available, but were not required to track this. 

Municipalities were also asked to report certificates of occupancy, which show buildings have been inspected to ensure they meet Maine fire and safety codes. About 61 percent of towns said they issue such certificates. The state’s building permit report states 3,264 certificates of occupancy were issued in 2025.

The certificates of occupancy show when projects are completed, whereas building permits simply show that a project has been approved. It can take a couple of years for a housing project to be completed, said Justin Brown, the code enforcement officer for Falmouth and the vice president of the Maine Building Officials and Inspectors Association. Permits have to be re-issued every so often, and projects can run into snags.

“In a perfect world, you would get a project permit and issue a certificate of occupancy a short time later,” Brown said, speaking before the data was released. “But just because a permit is issued doesn’t mean there will be a certificate [of occupancy] issued.”

More information about how long it takes for permitted projects to turn into occupied homes would better show the hurdles that builders are encountering, Mitchell said. The state may also want to require more reporting on affordable housing development in the future.

“We need new luxury housing; we need affordable housing; but we don’t know what is the balance of that need,” she said.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.