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Iowa new construction report — Q1 2026

The bottom line

Iowa's residential permit volume is down 12% quarter-on-quarter — a cooling signal. Some of this is seasonal (construction slows in Q4 + Q1 in many markets); some may be structural. Operators serving this state should pay attention to which builders are still active versus those who are pulling back, and consider whether competitive accounts are vulnerable.

Top movers this quarter

The Iowa counties with the biggest quarter-on-quarter permit-volume change. Click any county for the full local market dashboard.

1. Polk County: 584 permits this quarter (-102 vs 686 prior quarter).
2. Linn County: 111 permits this quarter (-50 vs 161 prior quarter).
3. Warren County: 56 permits this quarter (-41 vs 97 prior quarter).
4. Johnson County: 124 permits this quarter (-33 vs 157 prior quarter).
5. Dubuque County: 24 permits this quarter (-22 vs 46 prior quarter).
6. Cedar County: 23 permits this quarter (+21 vs 2 prior quarter).

Most-active builders

Licensed home builders in Iowa ranked by Q1 2026 permit count. Click any name for the builder's full profile, permit history, and county footprint.

Per-permit builder attribution for Iowa is limited this quarter. Per-permit feeds outside Florida are added quarterly — Iowa will deepen as we add county portals.

What this means for trade operators

If you're an LBM operator, roofing contractor, HVAC company, plumber, concrete crew, or any trade serving Iowa's new single-family construction market, this quarter's data points to a few practical actions:

• If you're not actively quoting the top 6 builders listed above, that's the call list for this week.
• If your service area covers any of the top-mover counties, you have leverage right now — builders there are scaling and looking for capacity.
• If you're considering expansion into Iowa, the Iowa dashboard has all counties scored against the trade you select. Drive-time analysis from your existing yard tells you which counties are reachable today.

This report is automatically refreshed every quarter from Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data plus county public records. The methodology is documented in our Census BPS data explainer.