Growth Watch

Quick Links

Please direct specific development process requests and applications for permits, plans, and inspections to the Development Assistance Center.

Growth Watch has been produced by the City since the late 1950s in various formats. Now a publication of the Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department, the purpose of Growth Watch is to monitor and track development from an urban planning perspective. It is now available in electronic form, including spreadsheets and maps, with an emphasis on providing raw data on development activity. Most data sets are posted quarterly as soon as they can be processed.

We are currently tracking and providing analysis about:

• Subdivisions - general location and project information where available.
• Site Plans - first evidence of changing land use and shifting market momentum.
• Permits - construction and remodeling activity in the community.

Growth Watch Data by Years

The following files are in compressed (zip) format. Right-click on the link with your internet browser and you should be asked to save the link to your computer. Some users may receive an error due to their internet security settings. The zip files contain GIS shapefiles that require GIS software, or the free ESRI ArcExplorer GIS viewer. You will also need Adobe Acrobat software to view the maps, and Microsoft Excel to view spreadsheets. Please contact Surbhi Bakshi at (512) 974-6459 or email Growth Watch if you have any questions or problems with these files.

Period	Report	Subdivisions	Site Plans	Permits
1997	no	no	no	GIS
1998	no	no	GIS	GIS
1999	no	no	GIS	GIS
2000	no	no	spreadsheets (year), GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2001, by quarter	no	no	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2002, by quarter	no	no	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2003, by quarter	no	no	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2004	no	spreadsheets	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2005	yes	spreadsheets, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2006	yes	spreadsheets, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2007	yes	spreadsheets, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS
2008	yes	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps
2009	yes	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps	spreadsheets, GIS, maps

Summary Data

The spreadsheet below is taken straight from the City's development tracking databases. Unlike the Growth Watch data above, it has not been corrected for accuracy, and is meant to provide an overall estimate of permit activity in the City for long range forecasting purposes.

Residential Permits by General Usage Categories, Years 1993-2009

Emerging Projects - Austin

The Emerging Projects - Austin map shows some of the prominent projects in planning or construction phases in and around Austin. The Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in is needed to view this document in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. This can be downloaded for free at http://www.adobe.com.

Click to open these PDF's.