New Single-Family Starts Down 7% Year-Over-Year

Since 2012, starts for new single-family homes have increased year-over-year, reaching a peak of 1.13 million home starts in 2021. Since then, however, high housing costs have weakened demand. As a result, new single-family starts decreased throughout 2023 for the second consecutive year, according to recent insight from the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing blog. Across the U.S., there were 946,536 new single-family home starts in 2023, down 7% year-over-year.

The amount of new single-family construction varied by region. Of all nine U.S. Census regions, the South Atlantic, West South Central, and Mountain divisions recorded the most new single-family starts in 2023. While this accounts for just 41% of the U.S., these areas together made up for more than two-thirds of single-family starts during this time. Regardless, a majority of U.S. regions still reported a decline in single-family construction activity.

In 2023, six out of the nine divisions had negative annual growth rates. The New England Division was the only division that had a positive annual growth rate, while the Pacific and West South Central Divisions remained virtually unchanged in 2023. The Mountain Division reported the largest drop among the nine divisions with a 19% decrease, followed by the Middle Atlantic Division with a 17% decrease and the East North Central Division with a 12% decrease.

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