Single-Family Construction Declines Across All Geographies in Q1 as Multifamily Gains

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) latest Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), single-family construction declined across all geographies in Q1. NAHB pointed to elevated interest rates, rising material costs, and labor shortages as major headwinds at the start of the year.

Multifamily construction remained broadly resilient, with growth across most markets.

Single-Family

For single-family construction, the sharpest pullback was in large metro core counties, which recorded a 16.0% year-over-year decline on a four-quarter moving average basis. That marked a deterioration of 3.2 percentage points from the prior quarter. More broadly, single-family construction in non-rural counties, which are counties within metro areas, fell 9.2%.

NAHB said the declines reflect a longer-term shift away from dense population centers. Large metro core counties have shed an average of 0.1 percentage points of single-family market share each quarter over the past decade, with the pace accelerating after the pandemic. Outlying counties in small metros recorded the largest gain, adding nearly two percentage points from a decade earlier and 0.7 percentage points from Q1 2025 to capture a 10.8% market share.

Multifamily

Multifamily construction expanded across most geographies in Q1. Large metro core counties led with 20.8% year-over-year growth on a four-quarter moving average basis, gaining momentum after returning to positive territory in the prior quarter. Overall, multifamily construction in non-rural counties grew 10.5%.

The main exceptions were large metro outlying counties, where multifamily construction fell 24.6%, and micro counties, which edged down 0.6%. Both had posted consistent growth throughout 2025 and appear to be normalizing. Rural counties saw multifamily growth slow sharply, from 11.4% in the prior quarter to 1.8%.