The U.S. had 881,076 new single-family housing units started in 2018, a 4% increase from the number of single-family housing starts in 2017.
That’s according to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis of U.S. Census Bureau construction-survey data. The number of starts in 2018 is double the figure from 2011, but it is still 49% less than the peak of 1.731 million starts in 2007.
Three of the country’s nine census divisions had housing starts surpass 100,000 in 2018 — the South Atlantic region, with 270,979 units; the West South Central region, with 150,836 units; and the Mountain region, with 124,144 units. New single-family construction in those three divisions alone accounted for roughly 62% of all starts in 2018.
The same three regions had an annualized growth rate of new construction that exceeded the nation’s overall pace. The South Atlantic states edged out the country as a whole by fractions of a percentage point, while the West South Central states grew year over year at an 8% clip and the Mountain region grew by 13%. The New England region also saw housing starts grow at 13% annually and, notably, that region posted a sizable acceleration in growth, well above its 5% year-over-year increase in housing starts in 2017.
Meanwhile, six of the nation’s nine census divisions had decelerating new-construction growth in 2018. These regions include the South Atlantic which, despite leading the country in housing starts, saw its growth rate dip drastically from a 10% annual increase in 2017. The West North Central Division had the largest annual deceleration, plummeting from 11% growth in 2017 to a 14% decline in 2018.
