Multifamily development in Montgomery County has hit a standstill, and with the pipeline nearly dry, developers are sending out an SOS.

The few projects that are getting underway are doing so with help from the county — in the form of affordable housing funds, tax abatements, public-private partnerships and, in one case, the county’s first tax increment financing deal.

But for bread-and-butter, market-rate apartment projects, there are very few paths forward, developers said last week at Bisnow’s Future of Montgomery County event.

“For the private sector, I don’t see a project starting in this county for at least two years,” Duball President Marc Dubick said onstage at the Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center. “And you figure out what that means in two years, because there’s virtually no new deliveries coming, except a couple that are being finished in the next three to six months. So it’s a serious problem.”

Over the past three quarters, only 38 multifamily units have been permitted in the county, according to data presented at its Quarterly Economic Indicators briefing at the end of July. 555 units were permitted in the first quarter of 2024 alone.

The slowest quarter was the first three months of this year, during which time there were only 7 units permitted in the county.

“The continuance of this slow pace for another quarter or two could indicate significant challenges in the multifamily market,” the county’s first-quarter report said.