US Townhouse Construction Posts Modest Gain in Q1

According to the US Census Bureau’s latest Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design report, with analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), single-family attached starts totaled 43,000 in Q1.

Over the past four quarters, townhouse construction starts totaled 175,000, 2% more than the 171,000 recorded during the previous four-quarter period. Townhouses accounted for 19% of all single-family housing starts in Q1, close to a record high for the data series.

Based on a one-year moving average, townhouses made up 17.6% of single-family starts in the first quarter. With recent gains, the four-quarter moving average market share is now the highest on record, with data going back to 1985.

Before the current cycle, the peak market share for townhouses over the past two decades was 14.6%, reached in 2008Q1 on a one-year moving average basis. That peak followed a steady rise in share beginning in the early 1990s.