It’s Taking Longer to Build a Single-Family Home

New numbers from the Census Bureau indicate that the average single-family home takes half a month longer to build than it used to.

If it sometimes seems like everything takes a little longer to finish these days, you might be right when it comes to building a single-family home.

A new National Association of Home Builders analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction shows that the average time it took to complete construction of a single-family home last year was 10.1 months. That’s half a month longer than in 2022, according to its research.

The finding, which clocks the permit-to-completion process, is consistent with the upward trend in timing since 2015. As recently as 2020, it took only 7.8 months for a home to be completed. The NAHB cites supply chain issues, shortages in skilled labor, and increased regulatory requirements as factors for the longer build time.

There were variations in this timing depending on the size of the new home and its intended purchase. Smaller homes, under 1,200 square feet, surprisingly took longer to build, 13 months, compared to larger homes, something that was attributed to the fact that these homes are generally intended to be used as rentals and they take longer to build.

Homes built for sale required the shortest amount of time, 8.9 months from start to finish while custom-build homes built by owners required the longest time, 15.2 months. Hired contractors took about 12.1 months to complete new home construction, the data shows.

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