Information obtained from the US Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) and tabulated by NAHB, shows that the share of two or more stories homes started is greater than one story homes in 2019, although the share of two-story homes decreased slightly in 2019. The greatest concentrations of two-or- more story homes were in divisions along the coasts of the country.

Nationwide, the share of new homes with two or more stories fell from 53% in 2018 to 52% in 2019, while the share of new homes with one story grew from 47% to 48%. That growth was largely concentrated in the South region, where the shares of single-story homes increased 6%, 7% and 2% in the South Atlantic, East South Central and West South Central, respectively. Shares of single-story homes in the South region had increased for a second straight year.  Though two or more story new homes are more common in New England, there was a significant growth (from 16% to 22%) of the share of single-story homes from 2018 to 2019.

Looking deeper, five of the nine divisions saw a greater share of newly-built two or more stories homes. Among these five divisions, New England and Middle Atlantic had a significantly higher proportion (78%) of two or more stories homes. New home started with two or more stories in South Atlantic, Mountain and Pacific were 54%, 52% and 61%.

On the other hand, new homes started in the Midwest and South show a stronger preference of single-story homes, except for the South Atlantic division in the South. In the Midwest (East North Central and West North Central), 54% and 55% of new homes started were one-story, while the shares in the East South Central and West South Central were 59% and 61%.

Tags: single-story, SOC