As the need for medium-density housing grows, U.S. housing markets are seeing more townhome construction. According to National Association of Home Builders’ analysis of the most recent Census data, townhome starts totaled 171,000 homes over the last four quarters, compared with 141,000 during the prior four quarters. During Q1 2024 alone, townhomes made up 18% of single-family housing starts.
Using a one-year moving average, the market share of newly-built townhouses stood at 17.2% of all single-family starts for the first quarter. With recent gains, the four-quarter moving average market share is the highest on record, for data going back to 1985.
Prior to the current cycle, the peak market share of the last two decades for townhouse construction was set during the first quarter of 2008, when the percentage reached 14.6%, on a one-year moving average basis. This high point was set after a fairly consistent increase in the share beginning in the early 1990s.
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