Share of New Homes with Patios Edges Down for First Time in Fifteen Years

For the first time in 15 years, the share of new homes with patios finally declined in 2024, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development). Of the roughly 1.0 million single-family homes started during the year, 61.8% came with patios. This is down from 63.7% in 2024 and marks the lowest the percentage has been since 2020.

Historically, fewer than half of new homes came with patios during the 2008-2011 period of extreme weakness in the housing market. But soon thereafter, the share jumped to 52.4% in 2012 and has been climbing ever since. The percentage increased every year from 2012 through 2023 (except in 2015, when it was unchanged before the dip in 2024.

Historically, fewer than half of new homes came with patios during the 2008-2011 period of extreme weakness in the housing market. But soon thereafter, the share jumped to 52.4% in 2012 and has been climbing ever since. The percentage increased every year from 2012 through 2023 (except in 2015, when it was unchanged before the dip in 2024.

During this period, the broad geographic distribution of new homes with porches has remained relatively consistent. At the low end of the scale, only 14% percent of new single-family homes built in New England and 23% in the Middle Atlantic came with patios in 2024. At the high end, the incidence of patios on new homes was over 80% in the West South Central and around 70% in the South Atlantic and Mountain divisions.

Additional detail on the characteristics of new-home patios is available from the Annual Builder Practices Survey (BPS) conducted by Home Innovation Research Labs.

For the U.S. as a whole, the 2025 BPS report (based on homes built in 2024, like the SOC-based statistics cited above) shows that the average size of a new-home patio is about 320 square feet, but with considerable geographic variation. The average is over 400 square feet in the adjacent East North Central and East South Central divisions. New home patios are considerably smaller on the other side of the Mississippi River, with an average size of under 200 square feet in the West South Central, and only a little over 200 square feet in the West North Central division.

In most parts of the country, poured concrete dominates all other building materials used in new-home patios.  Across the entire country, poured concrete accounts for over 60% of new-home patios on a square-foot basis. The major counter-example is the New England division, where builders use concrete pavers and natural stone more often than poured concrete.