New Construction in St. Petersburg in 2026

St. Petersburg authorized 2,641 new housing units by building permit in 2025, up from 1,613 in 2024, according to the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.

The Census annual place file for 2025 lists 629 single-unit permits in St. Petersburg with a reported construction value of $286,673,748, and 20 buildings of five or more units holding 1,905 units valued at $225,991,511 (Census Building Permits Survey, 2025). The 2024 file lists 560 single-unit permits valued at $195,298,996 and 9 large buildings with 983 units valued at $179,944,940 (Census Building Permits Survey, 2024). Dividing the single-unit value by the permit count gives about $455,761 per St. Petersburg house permit in 2025 and about $348,748 in 2024. That figure is the builder's reported construction value, not a sale price, and permits count units authorized, not finished.

The totals and per-permit averages above are Digital Towns arithmetic from the two Census files. Both annual files report 12 months for St. Petersburg. Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the 2024 and 2025 Census place files and the St. Petersburg Construction Services and Permitting pages.

The City of St. Petersburg counts a net increase of 2,012 housing units produced in 2025, a different measure from the 2,641 units the Census Bureau shows authorized by permit that year.

The city figure comes from the Housing and Neighborhood Services department, which told a City Council committee that St. Pete increased local housing unit production by 40% from 2024 to 2025, with the strongest growth in multi-family units of five or more, though single-family homes are also being built (City of St. Petersburg, June 25, 2026). The two official counts conflict and are not reconciled by either agency: the Census files show 2,641 units authorized in 2025 against 1,613 in 2024 (Census 2025; Census 2024), while the city reports a net annual increase of 2,012 units produced in 2025 and a 40% rise in production. The Census series counts units authorized by permit, and the city release does not say how a produced unit is counted, so a report on St. Pete construction should name which figure it uses.

Most St. Petersburg plan units now in progress are multi-family units, 2,452 by the city count, alongside accessory dwelling units, workforce density bonus units and affordable townhomes on city-owned land.

The plan was launched by Mayor Kenneth T. Welch in April 2023, and at its halfway mark the city reported 804 multi-family units under construction and 209 multi-family units created or preserved in 2025 (City of St. Petersburg housing update). The city says 72% of all units are at 80% of area median income and below, 46% at 60% and below, and that the majority are new, with 15% preserved. The single-family category uses city-owned land through the affordable lot disposition program and affordable townhomes. These are program counts, so market-rate condominium towers downtown appear in the Census permit totals but not in this table.

New buildings in St. Petersburg are permitted by the Construction Services and Permitting Division through an online ePlan portal, with the main counter at the Municipal Services Center, One 4th St. N.

Since November 1, 2023, electronic plan review requests go straight through the online portal without an emailed prescreen, and an application number is issued at once; applicants then have ten business days to finish uploads or answer initial comments, or the application is denied (City of St. Petersburg building permits). Builders work from the Residential Plan Review Checklist or the Commercial Plan Review Checklist. An optional Preliminary Plan Review is offered for evolved designs, with drawings and a question list sent at least 7 business days before the meeting and a fee that is credited to the permit.

Two changes in late 2025 still shape 2026 jobs. Effective November 1, 2025, the city issues a separate roof trade for all new construction, and effective November 3, 2025, lobby hours went back to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday while the city brought in its new Tyler software system (City of St. Petersburg Building and Permitting). The Building Permits page carries both schedules: the November 3 lobby notice and, a few lines lower, a note that the Municipal Services Center office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., so a Wednesday afternoon visit is worth confirming at 727-893-7231 first (St. Petersburg building permits; permitting contact). Per Florida House Bill 803, effective July 1, 2026, the Building Department has a Permit Exemption form for work on a single-family dwelling totaling less than $7,500, but only outside flood hazard areas and not for structural components (including windows, doors, roofing, soffit, fascia and siding), mechanical, electrical, plumbing or gas work (City of St. Petersburg). The Florida Senate lists the bill as CS/CS/HB 803, Building Permits and Inspections, Chapter 2026-63, effective July 1, 2026 (Florida Senate).

Besides permit fees, new construction in St. Petersburg pays a transportation multimodal impact fee, usually before the Certificate of Occupancy, and the city's own ADU example adds a sewer impact fee.

St. Petersburg collects multimodal impact fees under the Pinellas County Countywide MIF Ordinance, and a plans examiner calculates the amount after a permit application is submitted, based on land use and size; Schedule A covers the suburban parts of the city and Schedule B covers downtown St. Petersburg and adjacent areas (City of St. Petersburg permit and impact fees). Redevelopment earns a credit for the highest previous use on the site since June 30, 1986, and an unused credit stays with the land. The city has no transportation concurrency rule, but projects generating more than 50 new PM peak hour trips on Gandy Boulevard, 38th Avenue North, 22nd Avenue North or 54th Avenue South segments may need a transportation management plan. The fees page says the city collects impact fees only for transportation and none for parks or schools, yet the ADU page's sample below includes a $350 sewer impact fee; the two city pages do not reconcile this.

The ADU page states that plans are reviewed within 3 to 5 business days, that a unit can be no larger than 800 square feet or 67% of the existing home, whichever is less, and that NT zoning needs a lot of at least 4,500 square feet (City of St. Petersburg ADU program). St. Pete rentals in residential districts must run at least 30 days.

A new St. Petersburg building in a flood zone must be elevated, and the city requires two feet of freeboard above base flood elevation, or four feet for some multi-family buildings.

The 2023 Repetitive Loss Area Analysis explains that a local technical amendment to the building code sets two feet of freeboard for all new or substantially improved structures in St. Petersburg and four feet for some multi-family buildings with 3 or more units (City of St. Petersburg Repetitive Loss Area Analysis 2023). The ADU program applies the same logic at small scale: new buildings in a flood zone must be elevated, remodeling is limited to 49% of the value of the home, and the flood zone of a lot is checked on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (St. Petersburg ADU page). The city lists the Elevation Certificate and the Floodproofing Certificate among the forms for elevation or floodproofing permits (City of St. Petersburg flooding page).