Seattle, Wash.
2008 total building permits: 15,389
Seattle, a city of 3.4 million people, last year weighed in as the eighth largest home building market. Residential construction activity here, as measured by permits, is off only 40 percent since 2005, much better than most markets. Seattle has steadily transitioned during the last 10 years from an affordable to an upscale housing market, with the median price of an existing home reaching above $350,000. Even so, existing-home prices fell only 7.7 percent in the last year. One of the secrets to Seattle's success is that it has added lots of jobs in recent years and held on to them last year. Some builders there have even stepped up their land buying in anticipation of a market recovery. As the city has become more urban, the share of single-family to multifamily permits has reversed; multifamily now accounts for 57 percent of activity.

Busiest builders: Quadrant Homes, Centex Homes, Murray Franklyn, Camwest Development, Polygon Northwest. Courtesy: Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.