The Wilmington metropolitan area's growth has been documented and measured in a lot of different ways. This piece discusses the construction boom, how it is distributed across the three counties and the less frequently discussed variation within them.
Brunswick boom
Brunswick County is the undeniable story of this era. In 2018, it authorized roughly 1,700 residential units. By 2023, that number had exploded to 6,552 units, which is almost four times higher in just five years.
The most recent data, covering 2025, shows the county permitting approximately 4,457 units. That is below the 2023 peak but still at a level that would have been unimaginable a decade ago and that far exceeds what either of its neighbors is producing.
The story within Brunswick is equally striking: Leland, the town just across the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, has alone accounted for over 8,400 permitted units since 2018, making it one of the fastest-growing municipalities in North Carolina by any measure.
New Hanover density
New Hanover County tells a different but equally important story. It is the most urbanized and land-constrained of the three counties. It saw a strong surge in permitting through 2022, topping out at 3,327 units, before entering a clear declining phase. By 2025, the county authorized only 2,332 units, which is about a 30% drop from the pandemic-era peak.
What stands out is New Hanover's housing mix. The share of single-family construction is much lower there than in Brunswick or Pender. About 49% of its permits since 2018 have been for single-family units, compared with roughly 87% in Brunswick and more than 90% in Pender. This is a direct reflection of Wilmington's density pressures and the growing importance of multifamily development for meeting housing demand.
Steady Pender
Pender County is the largest county in land area but the smallest in permit volume. It began reporting data to the Census Bureau only in 2022. In the four years since, it has authorized almost 3,800 units. Its annual totals have been remarkably stable, ranging from about 830 to 1,100 units per year. This points to a market that is growing steadily but has not yet entered the rapid expansion that Brunswick experienced in the early 2020s.
Recent employment gains and business establishment growth suggest that Pender may soon become a more significant player, since it is not only adding jobs but also seeing an increase in wages.
What does all of this mean in practice?
It means school systems are absorbing new students each year. It also means road networks are now carrying higher levels of daily traffic, and that municipal water and sewer systems, emergency services and public parks are seeing higher demand than in the past.
The pace of permitting is a leading indicator, and the actual construction, occupancy and service needs tend to follow 12-24 months later. The pressure visible in Brunswick's infrastructure today aligns with permits pulled in 2022 and 2023. The permits issued in 2025 will show up in local service demand in the next couple of years.
None of this is an argument for or against growth. The Cape Fear region continues to attract new residents for reasons that include coastal quality of life and relative affordability compared with larger metros. The construction industry is responding to those population trends.
Growth of this scale, and the duration over which it has occurred, creates coordination challenges for a region made up of three counties with different tax bases and service structures. Understanding the location and type of new housing activity is an important step toward planning for the pressures that follow.
Mouhcine Guettabi is a regional economist with UNCW's Swain Center and an associate professor of economics at UNCW's Cameron School of Business.
