US Single-Family Construction Ends 2024 With Growth, While Multifamily Declines
HBGI Q4 2024: Single-Family Construction Ends Year with Growth
According to the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), the continued shortage of existing homes for sale has helped to keep new single-family construction growing across all regions. Despite persistent factors that continue to affect housing affordability—including a limited supply of buildable lots, rising construction costs, and a shortage of skilled labor—single-family construction grew over all four quarters of 2024.
Multifamily construction remained lackluster but did feature some growth in lower density areas.
Single-Family
All HBGI-tracked geographies posted another quarter of growth in Q4 after peaking in Q2. The HBGI is constructed using permit data, which has continued to post higher volumes than last year despite residential construction dealing with persistent structural issues, NAHB reported.
Among the HBGI geographies, the highest growth in Q4 was registered in small metro core counties, which increased 10.3% year-over-year on a four-quarter moving average basis (4QMA). The market with the lowest level of growth was non metro/micro counties, which were up 4.8% year-over-year (4QMA).
In terms of market share, NAHB says that single-family construction took place primarily in small metro core county areas, representing 29.1% of single-family construction. The smallest single-family construction market remained non metro/micro county areas, with a 4.2% market share.
Multifamily
Multifamily construction continued to register negative growth rates across the largest markets, with large metro core county areas posting a decline of 13.5% in Q4 (4QMA).
While permit levels remain lower for new multifamily construction, there were some positive signs in less densely populated areas, NAHB said. Small metro outlying county areas had the largest growth rate in Q4 at 9.0%, the second consecutive quarter of growth. These areas make up around 5.0% of the total multifamily construction market.
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