A Decade of Recovery: How the 2010s Shaped American Home Building

For builders, the 2010s were filled with loss, determination, and rebuilding. This decade was rough—its total of 6.8 million single-family housing starts was the lowest on record since the 1960s. Vacancy rates are way down; supply is scarce. Yet the housing industry has come a very long way since the Great Recession. The last half of the decade did bring hope as the market crept back up to a healthy level due to low interest rates.

Home building in the 2010s was a story of the Long Recovery. After the Great Recession, the number of home builders declined significantly, and housing production was unable to meet buyer demand. This deficit of housing in the United States continues to exist because of persistent supply-side headwinds for builders, creating a critical housing affordability challenge for renters and homebuyers. Yet despite these challenges, residential construction is set to evolve and expand throughout the decade ahead.

Between 2010 and the end of 2019, there were 6.8 million single-family housing starts.

That total included:

• 1.53 million custom home building starts
• 827,000 townhouses starts (single-family attached)
• 300,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts

More than half (54%) of single-family starts occurred in the South region, and nearly a quarter (23%) were in the West. The Midwest and Northeast regions accounted for 15% and 8% of starts, respectively. Overall, single-family starts have grown modestly over the past decade. However, that expansion was curbed by occasional soft patches, the first occurring in mid-2010 with the cessation of the stimulus era homebuyer tax credit.

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