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New Home Starts Plunge In Umatilla

    New home construction saw a sharp decrease inside the City of Umatilla during 2025.  City data released this week indicates the city saw 58 new home permits pulled in the past 12 months, down from 145 in the previous year.  In 2025 new home permits were estimated at just under $11 million, down from $27 million in 2024.
    As in 2024, the majority of homes built in Umatilla in 2025 were in the Magnolia Pointe subdivision.  Umatilla’s largest development to date, Magnolia Pointe accounted for 48 of the new home permits pulled in the past year, with the rest scattered around the community.
    Several factors likely contributed to the slowdown.  Interest rates and high prices have put negative pressure on homebuyers, and likely played a part in the slowdown in home building inside Magnolia Pointe, where upwards of 500 homes are possible.  Another development near Magnolia Pointe nearer the Southside community which could see another estimated 200 homes brought to the city had installed roads and other infrastructure in 2025, but as of this week no new homes have been started. That development is known as Woodsong.
    Another contributing factor to the slowdown could be shifting city policy regarding development.  In recent years, the city has taken a position that seeks fewer homes built in subdivisions.  Recently enacted land development regulations in the city look to keep densities in single family home developments no greater than three units per acre, and less than that in many cases.  Both large developments currently underway in Umatilla were initially approved before the housing crash in 2007.
    Umatilla’s growth philosophy has been on display recently, when a residential development on Keene Road just south of the Lakeview Terrace retirement community, which had been approved for around 40 homes before the crash was redesigned.  That development saw it’s possible housing units drop from 40 to 8.
    Speaking in recent months on the subject, Umatilla City Manager Aaron Mercer  and Mayor Chris Creech have repeatedly voiced the city’s goals on the matter, with both discussing quality of life concerns associated with high density development and the desire to maintain Umatilla’s rural community flair as key factors considered when discussing potential new development.
    This week, Mercer noted the slowdown, but was cautious regarding its lasting impacts.
    “The City Council approved the draft of our new LDR's that provide much lower density, et. al.,  but the adoption of Senate Bill 180 stonewalled our efforts to adopt our new LDR’s,” he said, noting current state law passed last year that restricts local governments ability to control development.  “The lower-density land use/zoning is still being implemented where possible.”
    Additionally, Mercer said he expects Woodsong to begin pulling permits in the near future.
    Mercer said the growth in 2024, while mostly in Magnolia Pointe, also saw homes built on infill lots that have been vacant for decades around the city. 
    Current and future slowdowns could be a simple factor of limited land left for large-scale development and the city’s desire to keep densities low, should expected changes to SB 180 return more control to local governments.
    “Many of those lots are built out, leaving us with less vacant land within our urban core.”