Custom Home Building Posts Gains in Spring 2021

Results of the U.S. Census Bureau Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design Survey, with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders, indicated that custom home building (those are homes not intended for sale) posted the second-best quarter since the Great Recession during the spring of 2021.

According to the survey, there were 54,000 total custom building starts during Q2. This marks a 15% gain from the second quarter of 2021, a comparison affected by the declines in economic activity in the spring of 2020. Nonetheless, over the last four quarters, custom housing starts totaled 187,000 units, a 4.5% gain from the prior four-quarter total.

Despite these gains, the market share for custom home building has declined as other home building forms have expanded more rapidly. As measured on a one-year moving average, the market share of custom home building, in terms of total single-family starts, declined to 16.6%. This is down from a cycle high of 31.5% set during the second quarter of 2009.