Pandemic Shifted Home Building in 2020 to the Suburbs, Exurbs and Small Metro Areas

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) is reporting that the shift to suburban home building — which was first reported in Q2 2020 — is the result of buyers’ growing preferences to live in lower density, lower cost markets and the results of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued through the balance of 2020. Single-family residential construction staged a sharp rebound through Q3 and Q4 of 2020, after declining Q2, with prominent results in core counties of small metro areas and suburbs and exurbs of large and small metro areas. According to Q4 HBGI data, single-family construction continued to overperform in suburbs, exurbs and rural communities. Lower-density markets gained 1% point in their combined market share of home building over 2020, ending with 48.6% at the end of Q4. This represented an acceleration of an existing trend due to affordability conditions.