2016 Housing Starts Ranked by Region

Home building is thriving along the Atlantic coast and in the Southwestern and Rocky Mountain states.

The South Atlantic, Mountain, and West South Central divisions of the U.S. accounted for 60 percent of all new single-family housing starts in 2016, according to NAHB analysis of the 2016 Survey of Construction.

The South Atlantic division led the way with 234,992 starts last year. The region consists of coastal states from Florida north to Maryland, plus landlocked West Virginia.

The West South Central division, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, registered 128,709 housing starts last year, and the Mountain division of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and five other Rocky Mountain states, had 100,190 new single-family units started in 2016.

Following the big three, the Pacific division (California, Oregon, and Washington, along with Alaska and Hawaii) had 81,637 starts in 2016, and the East North Central division (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) had 74,054 starts. New England had the fewest starts at 21,777.

Nationally, 779,082 new single-family units were started last year, a 10 percent increase from 2015. 

Four regions outpaced the national average: East South Central (29 percent more starts than in 2015), West North Central (17 percent), Mountain (17 percent), and New England (15 percent). Despite the high number of starts, West South Central actually saw a 2 percent decline in starts last year. The U.S. as a whole produced just 58 percent as many homes last year compared with the annual average production between 2000 and 2003, defined as the “pre-recession normal.” Between 2000 and 2003, the nation averaged 1.34 million housing starts per year.

None of the nine divisions have reached their pre-recession normal. West South Central came closest, with 86 percent as many housing starts last year compared with 2000–03, but the eight other divisions ranged from 70 percent (New England) to 43 percent (West North Central) when comparing starts in 2016 with 2000–03 starts.