Billings Is Booming: Nearly Half of New Homes Are Multi-Family

If you’ve driven around the Billings area lately, you might have noticed something- the landscape is changing. Construction signs, and new apartment buildings are popping up in spots that used to be open lots or single-story homes. It’s not your imagination. A new study from Construction Coverage shows that nearly half of all new housing units in the Billings metro area last year were multi-family, and that’s a big deal.

Billings Beats the National Average

In 2024, 41.2% of all new homes built or approved in Billings were multi-family units, like apartments, townhomes, or condos. Nationally, that number sits lower, at just 33.6%. That means Billings is building a higher percentage of these larger, higher density homes than the country as a whole. To put it in perspective, we added 629 new multi-family units last year. That includes everything from duplexes to five-plus-unit buildings, compared to 896 single-family homes. That balance marks a real shift in how our city is growing.

How Building Up Could Help Billings Tackle Its Housing Crunch

You don’t have to be a builder or a real estate expert to know housing has gotten tough. Prices are high, rent’s up, and finding something affordable can feel impossible. Multi-family developments help ease that pressure. They make better use of space, cost less to build than single-family homes, and can open doors for people who want to live close to work, school, or downtown without breaking the bank. It’s also part of a national trend as people across the country, cities are realizing that building up instead of out may be one of the fastest ways to make housing more accessible again.

RAD MORE: 15 Things Only People From Billings Truly Understand

Montana Breaks the Mold as Billings Leads a New Housing Trend

Nationally, the U.S. issued just under half a million multi-family permits last year. That’s more than triple what we saw during the 2009 housing collapse, though still far from the historic highs of the 1970s. Big states like New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are leading the way with more than 60% of their new housing being multi-family.

But here in the Mountain West, it’s a little different. States like Idaho, Oklahoma, and West Virginia are still slow to embrace this type of housing. Montana, though? We’re breaking that mold. 43.4% of Montana’s new housing units last year were multi-family, showing that cities like Billings are helping lead the charge.

As Billings Grows, Can We Keep Our Small Town Heart?

Billings has always had a strong small-town heart, but it’s also growing fast. More multi-family housing doesn’t mean we’re losing that sense of community, it might actually help keep it. It means more options for young families who want to stay local, seniors looking to downsize, and newcomers drawn by jobs or outdoor living who need a place to call home.

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Of course, growth comes with questions. How will our infrastructure keep up? Where will new developments go? And can we balance affordability with preserving that “Billings feel” we all love? Those are the conversations worth having as we keep building.