Raleigh building & ADU permits
Recent permit activity, updated continuously.
Raleigh, North Carolina's capital and part of the Research Triangle, offers one of the cleanest permit feeds Igni tracks: under the Open Raleigh Data Policy it carries a native ADU field marking attached, detached, or internal units. Igni reads that classification directly rather than inferring it.
Igni is tracking 3,347 residential and building permits in Raleigh, NC — including 39 classified accessory-dwelling-unit (ADU) filings. The most active ZIP is 27610. The most recent filing Igni tracked was Oct 29, 2026. All records come from City of Raleigh ArcGIS open data (Esri), an official government open-data feed, and are refreshed continuously.
3347
Permits tracked
39
ADU permits
16
Distinct ZIP codes
Oct 29, 2026
Newest permit
Recent permits
A sample of the freshest permits in this jurisdiction — ZIP and city only (no street addresses).
| ZIP | Permit type | ADU type | Valuation | Applied |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27610 | Residential | — | $357,535 | Aug 20, 2026 |
| 27613 | Residential | — | $15,410 | Oct 15, 2026 |
| 27616 | Other | — | $29,975 | Oct 1, 2026 |
| 27604 | Residential | Attached ADU | $55,883 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| 27604 | Other | — | $5,779 | Oct 23, 2026 |
| 27612 | Commercial | — | $172,204 | Aug 27, 2026 |
| 27609 | Residential | — | $115,241,264 | Jun 12, 2025 |
| 27610 | Residential | — | $254,127 | Sep 21, 2026 |
| 27610 | Residential | — | $254,127 | Sep 21, 2026 |
| 27610 | Residential | — | $254,127 | Sep 21, 2026 |
| 27604 | Other | — | $10,000 | Oct 12, 2026 |
| 27616 | Residential | — | $416,251 | Oct 5, 2026 |
| 27616 | Residential | — | $284,487 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| 27612 | Other | — | $15,078 | Oct 22, 2026 |
| 27615 | Residential | — | $6,200 | Oct 26, 2026 |
| 27604 | Residential | — | $413,323 | Oct 1, 2026 |
| 27604 | Residential | — | $413,323 | Oct 1, 2026 |
| 27615 | Residential | — | $841,286 | Sep 22, 2026 |
| 27609 | Residential | — | $0 | Oct 26, 2026 |
| 27607 | Residential | — | $1,456,130 | May 19, 2026 |
Top ZIP codes by recent activity
ADU types in the recent set
Permit activity in Raleigh
Igni counted 5,520 permits issued in Raleigh over the last 12 months (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026) — up 1.1% on the 5,462 in the 12 months before. The forecast expects about 2,553 over the next 6 months.
Forecast: seasonal naive, typical error ±8% in backtests one to six months ahead. How we forecast
| Permit type | Last 12 months | Year over year | Forecast, next 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| All permits | 5,520 | Up 1.1% | ≈ 2,553 |
| Residential building | 4,147 | Flat (+0.5%) | ≈ 1,863 |
| Commercial building | 899 | Up 4.9% | ≈ 450 |
| Trade (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) | 9 | — | — |
| ADU | 58 | — | — |
Monthly figures
| Month | Permits | 10th–90th percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2023 | 464 | — |
| Nov 2023 | 439 | — |
| Dec 2023 | 370 | — |
| Jan 2024 | 483 | — |
| Feb 2024 | 534 | — |
| Mar 2024 | 410 | — |
| Apr 2024 | 481 | — |
| May 2024 | 582 | — |
| Jun 2024 | 449 | — |
| Jul 2024 | 498 | — |
| Aug 2024 | 515 | — |
| Sep 2024 | 398 | — |
| Oct 2024 | 439 | — |
| Nov 2024 | 411 | — |
| Dec 2024 | 385 | — |
| Jan 2025 | 469 | — |
| Feb 2025 | 424 | — |
| Mar 2025 | 492 | — |
| Apr 2025 | 477 | — |
| May 2025 | 403 | — |
| Jun 2025 | 395 | — |
| Jul 2025 | 568 | — |
| Aug 2025 | 491 | — |
| Sep 2025 | 508 | — |
| Oct 2025 | 469 | — |
| Nov 2025 | 370 | — |
| Dec 2025 | 373 | — |
| Jan 2026 | 426 | — |
| Feb 2026 | 419 | — |
| Mar 2026 | 469 | — |
| Apr 2026 | 495 | — |
| May 2026 | 444 | — |
| Jun 2026 | 528 | — |
| Jul 2026 | 524 | — |
| Aug 2026 | 508 | — |
| Sep 2026 | 495 | — |
| Oct 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 474 | 433–590 |
| Nov 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 374 | 344–465 |
| Dec 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 377 | 349–502 |
| Jan 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 431 | 402–585 |
| Feb 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 423 | 400–577 |
| Mar 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 474 | 448–652 |
Counts are permits issued per calendar month as Raleigh publishes them to its open-data feed — not a complete census; a change in what the city publishes moves them too. The current month is left out, and the most recent months are provisional. A forecast is a statistical estimate with a range, not a prediction for any project. Informational only.
How long do permits take in Raleigh?
Based on 14,728 Raleigh permits applied for between Nov 2023 and Aug 2026, the typical (median) permit was issued 38 days after application, and the middle half of permits took 17–69 days. One in ten took longer than 124 days.
| Permit type | Median | Typical range | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| All permits | 38 days | 17–69 days | 14,728 |
| Residential building | 34 days | 14–60 days | 11,252 |
| Commercial building | 56 days | 35–99 days | 2,308 |
| ADU | 85 days | 56–139 days | 161 |
Typical, not guaranteed: individual permits vary with project scope, application completeness and plan-review workload. Days are calendar days from application to issuance; applications still pending are counted as not-yet-issued rather than dropped. Informational only, not legal advice. How we calculate approval times.
Housing law — North Carolina
Accessory dwelling units in North Carolina are regulated locally; there is no statewide ADU mandate, so rules vary by city and county.
North Carolina has no statewide upzoning law; residential density is set by local zoning, with Charlotte and Raleigh pursuing their own reforms.
Raleigh ADU rules
Raleigh allows accessory dwelling units by right across the city. A 2020 text change (TC-16-19, adopted as Ordinance 2020-117) repealed Raleigh's old ADU overlay — which had required a neighborhood petition and rezoning and produced almost no units — and created Unified Development Ordinance Section 2.6.3, permitting an attached, detached, or internal ADU on residential lots citywide without that opt-in step.
There is no owner-occupancy requirement; the only ownership rule is that the ADU cannot be sold separately from the principal dwelling. A lot is generally allowed one ADU, with up to two permitted on lots inside a Frequent Transit Area. Size is capped at 800 square feet of gross floor area on most lots (1,000 square feet on lots larger than 40,000 square feet) and, in every case, less than the principal dwelling; the maximum height is 26 feet, with setbacks set by lot-size tier. No additional parking is required.
A Raleigh ADU is reviewed as a standard administrative building permit — no rezoning, overlay, special-use permit, or petition — and is allowed across the city's common residential and mixed-use zoning districts.
This is an informational summary — verify current rules with the city's planning/permitting department; not legal advice.
See also: North Carolina ADU law and what is an ADU?
Data source
Sourced from City of Raleigh ArcGIS open data (Esri). Open Raleigh Data Policy.
Nearby cities — North Carolina
Learn more about ADUs & building permits
Background reading on accessory dwelling units, building permits, and how Igni turns Raleigh permit records into leads.
Raleigh permit data — FAQ
Where does Igni get Raleigh permit data?
How fresh is Raleigh permit data?
How long does it take to get a building permit in Raleigh?
Is construction activity growing in Raleigh?
Does Raleigh allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs)?
Get permit leads — Raleigh
Fresh, filterable residential and ADU permit leads from Raleigh — delivered before your competitors even know.
Informational only, not legal advice. Headline counts reflect all permits Igni has tracked for this jurisdiction; the table shows recent activity. Housing law changes — verify current statutes before relying on this.