Knoxville-Knox County Planning recently released the 2025 Development Activity Report.
For the third year in a row, investment surpassed the billion-dollar mark with $2.4 billion spent on residential and non-residential development countywide.
Building activity increased four percent across Knox County this year as 5,985 residential and non-residential units were permitted. The majority of those permits, 5,822 of them, were for residential housing units and of those, 3,519 were multi-units. Northwest County saw the most building units permitted, with Central City seeing the second most.
Overall, 2025 saw a countywide shift from single-unit to multi-unit development; more than twice as many multi-units were approved than detached units. Two notable multi-unit projects include Icon Apartments and Legends at Hardin Valley in Northwest County, which contributed significantly to county totals.
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.
The amount of acreage rezoned for residential use was down 54.7 percent from 2021 — down to 463 acres in 2025 from 1,023 acres in 2021. This is also significantly lower than the five-year average of 825 acres per year from 2021 to 2025. In contrast, 2025 saw slightly more non-residential rezoning than in 2021, with 229 acres rezoned compared to 214 in 2021. This was still lower than the 293 acre 5-year average for non-residential rezonings.
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 in the Northwest and Southwest County, more development is now also occurring in the Northeast and East County.
View the full report on Planning’s website for more information or contact Aubrey Weiland at aubrey.weiland@knoxplanning.org or 865-215-3832.
