Visualizations:
Building Permits.
City Issuance Times:
Questions and Visualizations
Overall, long does it take to obtain a building permit?
To help answer that, here are some numbers.
These are meant to summarize 20 years of building permit application data.
From 2000 to 2020, obtaining a building permit took a median of about
3.2
months.
The bottom 25% of applications took less than
2
months . . .
. . . while the top 25% of applications took over
5.5
months.
Where is it taking longer to obtain one?
To help answer that, look below for a series of numbers and visualizations highlighting discrepancies in building permit issuance times across Portland. These maps have been segmented by project size.
A green dot means that developments in the area of the dot receive city issuance faster than the median. A yellow dot means that that it is around the median. A red dot means it is below the median.
When taking all of Portland into account, issuance time for building permits is about 3.2 months [see above]. However, we can observe differences by quadrant and neighborhood.
In North, Northeast, and Southwest Portland, it takes a median of
3
months.
However, in Northwest Portland, it takes a median of
3.5
months.
And in Southwest Portland, it takes a median of
4
months.
Does a development's size have any effect on permit issuance time?
To help answer that, here are a series of useful numbers and box plots.
These are meant to summarize 20 years of building permit application data.
Obtaining a building permit for creating a new single-family home took a median of about
2.9
months.
Creating a development with two to four homes took
4.4
months.
Creating a development with twenty to a hundred homes took
7.1
months.
Creating a development with five to twenty homes took
6.1
months.
Creating a development with over a hundred homes took
6.8
months.
Understanding This Visual:
Look to the left for several for a series of boxplots, which have been segmented by city quadrant and size.
Click through using the pruple arrows.
Hover over any boxplot to see the median, interquartile values, and more.
How has this changed over the past two decades?
To help answer that, look below for a series of line graphs, numbers, and a histogram. These lines graphs map trends in median building permit issuance times every six months, every year, and every two years from 2000 to 2019. Additionally, they have been broken down by project size.
We aggregated our data by grouping it by different time intervals and taking the medians of those subsets. The smallest time interval used is six months, intended to show short-term variability in data. To smooth out these short-run irregularities and depict long-term trends, we also used one-year and two-year intervals.
Understanding This Visual:
Look to the right for a series of graphs showing issuance times for building permits from 2000-2019.
The graph is interactive; feel free to filter as you see fit.
Click through using the purple arrows.
Hover over any point in time to see medians by development size.
A building permit application submitted in the years 2010 to 2020 takes about
42%
longer
than one submitted in the years 2000 to 2009.
Understanding This Visual:
Look to the right for a moving histogram showing the distribution of issuance times for building permits from 2000-2019.
Insights
Understanding This Section:
In the process of analyzing, visualizing, and presenting this data--we have learned a lot . Below are some of the most salient insights we have found.
We encourage you not to stop with just the insights we have below, but instead, we ask that you make use of our visualizations and try to find more.
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Of all sections of the city, new homes in Southwest Portland take the longest time to obtain building permits.
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Of all sections of the city, new homes in North, Northeast, and Southwest Portland take the shortest time to obtain building permits.
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It takes the longest to obtain a building permit for a 20-to-100-unit development.
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Across the board, obtaining a building permit takes longer today than it did 10 years ago.