Stucco ranks as the most popular exterior wall material on new single-family homes, while fewer home builders are using wood and stone as the primary material
July 25, 2024
2 min read
Image: Stephen Coburn / stock.adobe.com
Stucco: the most popular exterior material for single-family home starts in 2023.
While home exteriors come in a wide range of designs and styles and use a variety of materials, one siding material stands out as the most popular overall for home exteriors: stucco. Data show stucco was the most common siding material for new single-family homes started in 2023, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing blog. And while there's some geographical variation when it comes to exterior material preferences, data show that of all the home starts in 2023, 26.8% used stucco on the exterior, followed by vinyl siding at 25.6%, fiber-cement siding at 21.7%, and brick or brick veneer at 18.5%. Only a small number of builders (5.1%) used wood or wood products as the main exterior wall material, and just 1.2% used stone or rock.
Stucco was the most used primary exterior wall material in the Pacific, Mountain and South Atlantic divisions in 2023 at 62.0%, 52.7% and 39.4%, respectively, of the new single-family homes started in those areas. Brick or brick veneer was the most common exterior siding material in the East and West South Central divisions. In the West South Central, 57.8% of the new single-family homes started in 2023 used brick or brick veneer as the primary exterior material, compared to 44.6% in the East South Central.
