A custom home is defined by the NAHB as a home that is built on an owner’s land with either the owner or a builder acting as the general contractor, and in the fourth quarter of 2015 the number of custom home building starts increased slightly on a year-over-year basis from 2014. There were 41,000 custom starts for the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 40,000 for the fourth quarter of 2014, according to NAHB’s Eye on Housing. Overall, there were 158,000 total custom single-family home construction starts in 2015, which puts the total market share of custom home building for total single-family starts at 21.9 percent. This is down from the 31.5 percent that represented a cycle high in 2009. For the next few quarters, the market share of custom home building is projected to fluctuate as the overall single-family construction market expands.
Custom Home Starts Gain during the Quarter but Slip for the Year
Flat trends for custom home building, according to NAHB'S analysis of the latest Census data.
