Municipal bond issuance surged past the $500 billion mark to a record in 2024, as infrastructure spending needs and election-related concerns unleashed a slew of mega deals.
The muni market produced $512.7 billion of debt issuance in 2024, up 33.1% from $385.1 billion in 2023, according to LSEG data. This surpasses the previous record of $484.6 billion in 2020 by almost $30 billion.
Healthcare was the fastest growing category of municipal bonds in 2024, with issuance more than doubling from the previous year to $36.55 billion, as the nation's health systems rebounded from the impacts of the COVID pandemic, and state agencies and local authorities stepped up financings for acute care hospitals.
The 116% surge in healthcare bond sales from 2023 marked "a splash back from depressed issuance the few years prior," said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics. "There were some really difficult years because of COVID," he said. "Last year was the first year or so after that period. Hospitals have become a little more stable."
U.S. transportation bond sales increased by almost two-thirds in 2024 to $75.36 billion, as state agencies and local authorities stepped up financing for airports, toll roads and mass transportation.
The surge in issuance was led by the Florida Development Finance Corp., the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund and the New York Transportation Development Corp., which closed the three biggest transportation deals of the year, each worth more than $2.5 billion. The number of transportation issues surged to 529 last year from 405 in 2023, according to LSEG data.
