The long-term shift toward building single-family detached homes on smaller lots appears to have stabilized. According to the latest Survey of Construction (SOC), the share of new homes built on smaller lots remained near record highs in 2025, following more than a decade of steadily shrinking lot sizes. While the median lot size edged up slightly in 2025, the increase was modest and did not alter the broader trend toward more compact development.
The share of smaller lots remained high in 2025, with close to two-thirds of new single-family detached homes sold occupying lots under 9,000 square feet (1/5 of an acre or less). Moreover, 38% of lots were under 7,000 square feet (or less than 1/6 of an acre). These shares are just slightly below the record highs established over the last two years.
In contrast, when the Census Bureau started tracking these series in 1999, less than half (46%) of new for-sale single-family detached homes occupied lots under 9,000 square feet. Our earlier analysis traced how new single-family detached homes have steadily shifted toward smaller lots. That analysis revealed that the trend accelerated over the last 15 years, reflecting persistent lot shortages and builders’ efforts to improve affordability.
The newly released data show that the median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold in 2025 increased slightly to 8,543 square feet, up from 8,506 square feet in 2024. Although this represents a small year-over-year increase, the typical lot remains under 1/5 of an acre and well below historical levels. It is only modestly above the record-low median of 8,177 square feet recorded in 2019. The data suggest that, after years of steady declines, lot sizes have largely leveled off while remaining historically small, under one-fifth of an acre.
While the nation’s production of spec homes shifts towards smaller lots, regional differences in lot sizes persist. Looking at single-family detached spec homes started in 2025, the median lot size in New England is double the national median.
New England is known for strict local zoning regulations that often require very low density. Therefore, it is not surprising that single-family detached spec homes started in New England are built on some of the largest lots in the nation, with half of the lots exceeding 0.4 acres. The East South Central division is second on the list, with the median lot occupying 0.3 acres.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Pacific division, where densities are high and developed land is scarce, has the smallest lots, with half of the lots being under 0.13 acres. The bordering Mountain division also reports typical lots smaller (0.15 acres) than the national median.
In the South, the West South Central division stands out for starting half of single-family detached spec homes on lots under 0.15 acres. This is half the size of typical lots in the neighboring East South Central division.
The analysis above is limited to single-family detached speculatively built homes. Custom homes built on an owner’s land with either the owner or a builder acting as the general contractor do not involve the work of a professional land developer subdividing a property. Therefore, in the case of custom homes, lots refer to an owner’s land area rather than lots in a conventional sense. Nevertheless, the SOC reports lot sizes for custom homes and shows that they tend to have larger lots. The median lot size for custom single-family detached homes started in 2025 is one acre.
For regional analysis, the median lot size is chosen over the average because extreme outliers heavily influence averages. In addition, the Census Bureau often masks extreme lot sizes and values on the public use SOC dataset, making it difficult to calculate averages precisely, but medians (as the midpoint of a frequency distribution) remain unaffected by these procedures.