According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), 67.1 percent of single-family homes started in 2020 were built within a community or homeowner’s association. This is a record high for the association percentage since the re-design of the SOC in 2009. The Census Bureau defines community or homeowner’s associations as “formal legal entities created to maintain common areas of a development and to enforce private deed restrictions; these organizations are usually created when the development is built, and membership is mandatory.”  In absolute numbers, a total of 657,378 homes with community associations were started in 2020, compared to 545,000 in 2019.

The share of all new homes built within a community or homeowner’s association declined slightly to 62.0 percent in 2019, after a decade long upward trend. In 2009, the share was 47.6 percent, and in 2010, 48.0 percent. Since 2011, more than 50 percent of all homes have been built within a community or homeowner’s association. In 2018, the share was 62.5 percent, the second highest since records began in 2009.

When analyzed by the 9 census divisions, the highest share was in the South Atlantic Division, where 81.0 percent of new homes were in such communities. In the Middle Atlantic Division, on the other hand, the share was only 26.8 percent.

In the Mountain Division, 80.9 percent of new homes started in 2020 had a community or home owner’s association, followed by the Pacific Division at 47.4 percent, and the New England Division at 30.6 percent. In the West South-Central Division, the share was 74.8 percent, while in the East South-Central Division, it was 36.2 percent. In the East North-Central Divisions and West North-Central 54.7 percent and 41.2 percent of new homes started in 2020 were within a community or home owner’s association, respectively.

Tags: construction, economics, eye on the economy, home building, housing economics, single-family