Permitting data for infill developers - launching our research preview
Today we’re releasing a research preview of Cedar’s permitting data tools, starting with an interactive map showing where new homes are being permitted and how development activity is changing in your market.
We’re sharing it early to get feedback from developers and explore how this data can support better decisions, especially at the feasibility and underwriting stage. Visibility into an accurate housing pipeline can help you understand supply and demand in your market, assess competing projects, and evaluate what to build on a specific site.
This is a work in progress. We want to learn which questions matter most to you, what information you need to trust the answers, and how to make this useful in your next feasibility study.
This also enables us to publish monthly snapshots to help you track housing pipeline, active builders, and development trends in your market. Sign up for Market Monitor to get these updates delivered straight to your inbox, free every month.
What are we trying to achieve?
We think permitting data is one of the most important (and hardest to use) inputs in early feasibility and underwriting. Much of it is public, hiding in plain sight across city databases, application records, and project descriptions, but turning those records into something useful for a development decision still takes substantial work.
But connecting this data unlocks better answers to some of the most important development questions at the earliest stages:
- Permits and zoning: What kinds of projects are getting approved under the rules that apply to my site?
- Permits and lot characteristics: What are developers proposing on lots with similar sizes, dimensions, and constraints?
- Permits and builders: Who is active nearby, what are they building, and how is that activity changing?
- Permits and timelines: How long have comparable projects taken to move through review, and what should that mean for my schedule?
Where are we at?
We’re calling this a research preview because getting the data right is a substantial part of the work.
Permit records were created to administer a process. Their descriptions, classifications, and status fields vary across cities and over time. One development can generate multiple records. Addresses and company names can be inconsistent. A count of permits can mean something very different from a count of projects or homes.
Timelines need similar care. The time between a recorded application and approval may include revisions, applicant delays, and multiple review cycles. It does not necessarily represent the full entitlement process or the time spent with city reviewers.
AI agents give us a way to work through this complexity: interpreting descriptions, organizing records, and identifying relationships across datasets. Those interpretations still need to be checked against source records and real projects. We expect this to take time, and we’re sharing the work early so developers can help us test both its accuracy and its usefulness.
The preview draws on public municipal permitting records processed into Cedar’s published datasets. Our Austin timeline analysis uses the city’s building-permit and plan-review records. Coverage and available fields vary by city; the source date below the map shows the current coverage. The Dallas preview is currently a historical snapshot ending November 12, 2024, and does not include demolition data.
You can explore the map by city and date, inspect individual permits, and look at where activity is increasing or decreasing. The heat index compares permitting activity within a city. It is a way to explore local patterns, rather than a measure of completed housing or a prediction of investment performance.
How can you help?
The next stage needs to be shaped by the development community.
There are many ways to interpret, organize, and display these records. We want your help deciding which ones belong in an actual feasibility workflow:
- What is meaningful? Which questions would this data help you answer on a deal you’re evaluating today? What comparisons or filters would change a decision?
- What would earn your trust? What source records, definitions, explanations, or checks would you need before using an insight in your analysis?
- What would make it actionable? Where should this information appear, and how should it connect to your site evaluation, design decisions, or project schedule?
Bring us a site you’re considering, a project you know well, or a record that doesn’t look right. Those examples will help us build something developers can use with confidence.
Explore the research preview, sign up for the free monthly Market Monitor, and tell us what would make this useful for your next project.