Montgomery Planning frames 'development tracker' after finding 27,000 approved-but-unbuilt units; staff points to market, permitting and policy hurdles

Montgomery Planning briefed the Planning, Housing and Parks Committee on Oct. 27, 2025 about a reframed "development tracker" and the reasons why many approved housing projects remain unbuilt.

Lisa Gaffoni, planning supervisor with Montgomery Planning, told the committee the pipeline "as of September 2025" "consists of 246 development projects totaling around 27,000 unbuilt units," and that about 13,000 of those units have received all planning approvals and are positioned to advance toward permitting.

The analysis combined a developer questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Alex Pemberton, real estate research planner, said the team cleaned 47 responses to 32 valid project data points representing roughly 11,000 unbuilt units (43% of the September 2025 pipeline) and conducted 16 detailed interviews. "Very few projects pencil out given existing interest rates, valuations, construction costs, and rents," Pemberton said, summarizing consistent interview themes.

Why it matters: staff said the tracker’s headline unit count can be misleading because approvals occur at different stages. A preliminary-plan approval can cover thousands of units while site plans typically represent smaller phases; multifamily projects often register progress only when an entire building is complete.…