Competitive Enterprise Institute

You hear a lot about lumber prices and labor costs when people talk about why new homes are so expensive. You hear a lot less about permitting.

CEI’s Steve Swedberg cites NAHB research showing permitting adds roughly $38,000 to the cost of an average new home, about 7.6 percent of the total price, before construction even begins. Zoning and land-use applications account for about $7,000 of that. Compliance studies add another $11,000. Permit issuance, inspections, and utility hookups pile on another $20,000, the single biggest chunk. And that’s before accounting for the carrying costs of delays, which add to project financing costs the longer they stretch.

How permitting is a hidden tax on housing - Competitive Enterprise Institute Imagine being a housing developer so entangled in permits, legal challenges, and environmental reviews that it takes five decades to have a housing project approved. That is what happened at the Saddleback Meadows development in Trabuco Canyon in Orange...

1,000 state AI bills introduced in 2025. Most aimed at preventing hypothetical harm. CEI recommends a temporary moratorium on AI regulation while the technology develops. Lawmakers don't understand it well enough yet.