Just 3% of all single-family home construction came from off-site methods, but the National Association of Home Builders expects it to rise in the years ahead. The ongoing skilled labor shortage and lack of affordable housing are two factors the NAHB sees impacting the increase in off-site construction methods. Out of the 912,000 single-family homes completed in 2020, there were 28,000 using modular and panelized or pre-cut construction methods. The year with the largest share of modular or panelized homes was in 1998 when 7% of homes used off-site methods.
One notable regional concentration is found in the Northeast where 5% (3,000 homes) of the region’s 57,000 housing units completed were due to modular construction, the highest share in the country.
With respect to multifamily construction, approximately 1% of multifamily buildings (properties, not units) were built using modular and panelized methods. Similarly to single-family construction, this market share was expected to grow, but the expected gains did not materialize due to various constraints in the industry. In the year 2000 and 2011, 5% of multifamily buildings were constructed with modular (1%) or panelized construction methods (4%).