How Has the Housing Market Changed Over the Past 20 Years?

In 2025, it’s not uncommon to hear about the numerous ongoing challenges in the housing market. While assessing current data is important, it’s also important to take a look back and figure out how the housing market got to where it is currently. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey looks back over the last 20 years at how the housing market has expanded to accommodate a rapidly growing population as well as the impacts of that expansion.

More housing has been built to accommodate the growing population, but what type of housing?

From 2005 to 2024, there were more than 22 million homes built. The majority—about 13.5 million—were single-family detached homes. This figure represents a 17.8% increase in this housing type over this time period.

However, housing structures that accommodate 50 units or more nearly doubled from 2005 to 2024. During this time, 4.4 million more units were built, which is a 77.4% increase to 10.2 million in 2024.

Interestingly, vacancy rates have also risen alongside new-home construction

Although the total number of housing units increased in the past 20 years, the share of vacant homes also grew. The number of vacant homes rose by about 570,000 units during this period. However, the number of vacant homes for sale actually declined by nearly half a million units from 1.3 million in 2005 to fewer than 850,000 in 2024, and the homeowner vacancy rate decreased from 1.7% in 2005 to 1% in 2024.

According to the survey, this decline has not been a gradual one. The homeowner vacancy rate has gone up and down over the years. In 2008, it shot up to 2.7%, and in 2022 and 2023—following the pandemic housing boom—it tightened to just 0.8%.

How have housing costs been impacted by these shifts?

Housing costs look different today than they did in 2005. Renters in 2005 paid a median $728 dollars a month for rent and utilities, which is equal to $1,176 in 2024 when adjusted for inflation. As of 2024, the median renter cost grew by $311 to $1,487.

For homeowners, costs actually declined, but costs were higher than for renters overall. The median monthly cost in 2005 was just $961, or $1,552 when adjusted for inflation. By 2024, homeowner costs had gone down by $157 to $1,395. Part of the reason for this decline, however, was that less homes had a mortgage attached to them in 2024. The share of owned homes with a mortgage fell from 67.9% in 2005 to 59.7% in 2024.