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Last year was a record-breaker in terms of apartment and residential construction permits in Bellingham, but it is unclear if it will put a dent in low vacancy rates and rising rents.

In 2021 the city’s permit department issued the most permits for dwelling units in 25 years, when Bellingham officially began tracking the permit totals, said Kurt Nabbefeld, development services manager. Last year the city issued permits for 1,286 units, more than double the 2020 total, which was impacted by the arrival of COVID-19. It was the first time the number of units topped 1,000 since 2004, according to data from the city. While plenty of residential permits were issued in 2021, it may not be until well into 2022 or early 2023 before all those units become available, given the time it takes to build multi-story apartments.

In the meantime, apartment vacancy rates remain very low in Bellingham. In the fall of 2021, the apartment vacancy rate in Bellingham was estimated to be at 1%, according to a survey done by the University of Washington’s Center for Real Estate Research. The state average apartment vacancy rate average was 3.6%; a balanced rental real estate market is typically around 5%.