This week, Nick Harper and Allison Butcher from our Government Affairs team provide an update on bringing administrative final plat approval processes to local jurisdictions, as allowed under MBA-supported SB 5674, signed by Governor Inslee this year. This change will save applicants six to eight weeks of time in the approval process.

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Contact: data@mbaks.com

March 2026 Builders Bulletin: Building Permits Slowed in 2025

The March Builders Bulletin features recently released permit data for the Seattle metropolitan area through December 2025. Our three-county metro area (King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties) ended the year with 12% fewer total permits issued than the previous year. This figure reflects a 5% decline in single family permits and a 16% drop in multifamily permits.

Despite the regional slowdown, King County saw a modest bump in single family permits in 2025 while Pierce County experienced an increase in multifamily permits. See the Building Permits section for a complete breakdown by county.

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I don't know if you heard, but urbanists are developer shills. At least that's the common conception. In reality, many of us quite critical of certain developers and projects, while recognizing that absolute opposition to developers would get us nowhere. If developers are evil, they're a necessary evil—at least until we rise up, seize the modes of production, and turn Seattle into only to a full-blown socialist metropolis in which the government leads a huge construction boom to affordably house everybody.

No sign of the revolution yet, though.

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