US Custom Single-Family Home Share Declines Again in 2024

Posted on October 14, 2025

According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, with analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), custom single-family homes accounted for 17.5% of all US single-family starts in 2024—down from 18.8% in 2023 and 20.4% in 2022.

Custom homes—defined as contractor-built or owner-built homes constructed on the owner’s land for owner occupancy—totaled 176,932 starts in 2024, slightly below the 177,850 recorded the prior year. In contrast, 73.1% of homes started in 2024 were built-for-sale and 9.3% were built-for-rent.

Regionally, the highest custom home share in 2024 was in New England at 41.2%. The lowest was in the West South-Central division at 10.7%.

While preliminary Q2 data show year-over-year growth for custom homebuilding, NAHB cautions that quarterly Census figures are subject to revision and lack geographic detail.

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