Market Share of Single-Family Homes Built Offsite Lags Industry Expectations

According to completion data from the US Census Bureau Survey of Construction, with additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the total share of non-site built single-family homes (modular and panelized) was just 2% of all single-family homes in 2022. This share has been steadily declining since the early 2000’s, despite the high-level of interest in non-site-built construction. The NAHB says the low market share runs counter to some media commentary on off-site construction, which nonetheless holds potential for market share gains in the years to come.

There were 26,000 single-family units built using modular (12,000) and panelized/pre-cut (14,000) construction methods out of a total of 1.02 million single-family homes completed in 2022. The NAHB says that while the market share is small, there is potential for expansion. This 2% market share for 2022 represents a decline from years prior to the Great Recession. In 1998, 7% of single-family completions were modular (4%) or panelized (3%). This marked the largest share for the 1992–2022 period.

Regarding multifamily construction, approximately 2% of multifamily buildings (properties not units) were built using panelized methods. Similar to single-family construction, this market share was expected to grow, but the expected gains did not materialize due to various constraints in the industry, the NAHB says. In the year 2000 and 2011, 5% of multifamily buildings were constructed with modular (1%) or panelized (4%) construction methods.