The Development Activity Report looks at three types of development data: building activity, subdivisions, and rezoning. This report shows what has happened, and what is coming down the pipeline.

The majority of those permits, 5,822 of them, were for residential housing units and of those, 3,519 were multi-units – a 17 percent gain over last year. Two notable multi-unit projects in Northwest County contributed to this increase – Icon Apartments (307 units) and Legends at Hardin Valley (220 units).

Residential approvals have been gradually increasing year-over-year since 2020, when the pandemic caused a disruption in local homebuilding. 2025 saw a countywide shift from single units to multi-units; more than twice as many multi-units were approved than detached units.

Investment remained strong in 2025, with $2.4 billion spent on residential and non-residential development countywide. The value of non-residential investment hit a record-high of $554.1 million this year, boosted by the $142.8 million parking facility under construction at McGhee Tyson Airport. Although the airport is located outside Knox County, it is managed by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, and construction activity at the airport is overseen by City of Knoxville. Even excluding this project, a single-year record for non-residential construction in Knox County was notched. 

In subdivision activity, residential approvals generated the largest new lot inventory since before the Great Recession, totaling 1,905 lots. Average new lot size was about one-third of an acre in the city and a half acre in the county. The largest tracts that went through the residential subdivision process were located outside the urban core. This has become common in recent years as availability of undeveloped parcels within City of Knoxville limits has declined.

Rezoning approvals in 2025 were down from the previous year with a total of 141 cases. Acreage rezoned for residential uses in the unincorporated county decreased by over 60 percent year-over-year. In addition, the total number of rezoning requests in the unincorporated county shrank, reporting an 18 percent decline.

Increasing housing stock shows that the development community is responding to market pressure. With fewer large tracts available within city limits, development is becoming more evenly dispersed throughout the county. In addition to the continued investment we’ve seen in Northwest and Southwest County, more development is now also occurring in the Northeast and East County.

View the full Development Activity Report for more information or visit the archive for past versions.