The most common exterior wall materials on homes started in 2017 were vinyl and stucco siding. Vinyl siding was used on 27 percent of the new homes started in 2017, followed closely by stucco (25 percent), brick or brick veneer (21 percent), and fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or Hardiboard) (20 percent). Far smaller shares of single-family homes started last year had wood or wood products (5 percent) or stone or rock (1 percent) as the principal exterior wall material according to the data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC)

The Census Bureau’s SOC data is available by the nine census divisions and there are substantial differences in the use of siding across divisions. Vinyl siding was the most widely used primary exterior material in 4 out of 9 census divisions. In the Middle Atlantic and New England, 76 percent and 72 percent of the new homes started in 2017 used vinyl siding. In the East and North West Central divisions, vinyl accounted for 61 and 42 percent respectively.

Stucco was the most common widely used as the primary exterior wall material in the Pacific, Mountain and South Atlantic divisions in 2017: 63 percent, 49 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of the new single family homes started in those areas used it. In the South Atlantic, stucco edged out vinyl by a narrow margin. Brick or brick veneer was the top choice in the East and West South Central divisions, where at least 50 percent of the new single family homes started last year used it as the primary exterior material.

Tags: Building Materials, construction, eye on the economy, housing economics, New Home Characteristics