Single-family home building rose 36.1% in second home markets between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021 compared to an average of 23.3% for primary home markets, according to a report by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing. Second home counties have a higher proportion of non-primary residences such as vacation homes, the share of which has increased exponentially in the past year due to hybrid work arrangements and early retirements.
Multifamily construction also increased in second home counties at a growth rate of 24.7% after a 1.2% decline in the third quarter of 2020. The highest concentration of second homes lie in rural counties, also revealing a migrational shift away from larger metropolitan areas during 2021.
Per the latest results of NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index, in the third quarter of 2021, both single-family and multifamily home building showed gains in second home counties. This marked a reversal for multifamily after weakness last year. Second home counties are defined by NAHB as those having a high proportion of housing units that are not their owners’ primary residence, such as vacation homes1.
Between the third quarter of 2020 and 2021, the growth rate for single-family home building in second home markets was 36.1%, compared to an average of 23.2% for non-second home markets.
The single-family second home market share grew from 9.8% to 10.8% from the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021.
