Building permit data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that investment in single-family homes has been on the decline for several decades, while investment in multi-unit properties has increased. However, migration shifts and urban density concerns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse this trend in the future. Cities and states that have invested more in single-family residences may be better positioned for the years ahead.
Prior to COVID-19, the share of new housing units designated as single-family homes had been decreasing for decades. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 71.5 percent of new housing units in 1990 were single-family homes. By 2019, however, only 62.2 percent of new housing units nationwide were single-family homes. Notably, the overall number of new housing units authorized dropped precipitously in 2008 during the Great Recession, and has still not recovered to pre-recession level.
As of the 2018 American Community Survey, approximately 67 percent of all existing housing units in the U.S. were categorized as single-family homes. But there is some regional variation, with 74.3 percent of existing homes in the West North Central Division and only 59.5 percent of existing homes in the Middle Atlantic Division designated as single-family. In most regions, new single-family home investment in 2019 lagged behind historical levels. Single-family homes accounted for a larger share of new, rather than existing, housing units in just two Census divisions, both of which are in the South.
Southern and Mountain states invested the most in single-family homes in 2019. In states such as Wyoming, Louisiana, and Mississippi, more than 85 percent of new homes were single-family. By contrast, densely populated Northeastern states including New York (20.8 percent), New Jersey (31.6 percent), and Massachusetts (36.2 percent) were least likely to have invested in single-family homes in 2019.
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While many American cities are known for high-density living, others offer more space and can accommodate a larger proportion of single-family homes. To find which cities are investing the most in single-family homes, researchers at Porch analyzed new housing authorization data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey. To improve relevance, cities were grouped by population: large (1,000,000 or more), midsize (350,000–999,999), and small (100,000–349,999).
While there is significant variation in single-family home investment across metropolitan areas, several metros—for example, Spartanburg, SC, Midland, TX, and Merced, CA—exclusively authorized single-family homes in 2019. Similar to the regional data, metro areas in the South have the highest representation on the list. Here are the metropolitan areas investing the most in single-family homes.