Where Are Single-Family Housing Starts Falling the Fastest?
As a growing number of Americans move away from large metro areas in search of more space and greater housing affordability, single-family housing starts are slowing in the nation's densest counties
March 8, 2023
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Single-family housing starts have slowed considerably over the past year, but according to NAHB Eye on Housing, the largest drops are happening in the nation’s densest counties. Large Metro – Outlying Counties saw the largest 4-quarter decrease in the single-family growth rate, dropping from 23.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to -12.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have moved away from city centers en masse, and that trend is leading to more single-family production in outlying areas of metros, small metros, and non-metro areas.
The largest increase in market share since the fourth quarter of 2019 was in Micro Counties, where the share increased from 6.0% to 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The largest decrease in single-family market share was in Large Metro – Core Counties, which fell 2.4 percentage points from 18.4% to 16.0%.
