10 Cities That Need Way More Single-Family Housing

Nationwide, the lack of single-family home construction has become dire, threatening to create a housing shortage crisis that could undermine affordability and home sales. All told, single-family construction is falling short of demand in 80% of the metropolitan areas, according to the National Association of Realtors. But this dearth of new housing starts is far worse in some of the country's most sought-after housing markets. To judge where the lack of new construction is most concerning, NAR compared employment growth with single-family housing starts from 2012 to 2015. The average historical ratio of jobs to permits is 1.6. But in the areas NAR examined, the average ratio was 3.4, "which indicates inadequate new construction in most of the country." Here's a look at the 10 markets in need of the most new housing starts to balance its ratio back to the historical average of 1.6.