NAHB: 2024 Townhouse Construction Grows

Townhouse construction increased 10% in 2024, surpassing the rest of the single-family home building market.

According to NAHB’s analysis of the most recent Census data for Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, single-family attached starts reached 44,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Over the last four quarters (2024 as a whole), townhouse development starts to total a solid 174,000 dwellings, which is 10% more than the previous four-quarter period.

Townhouses accounted for 19% of single-family dwelling starts in the fourth quarter of the year, a record high for the data series.

According to a one-year moving average, newly built townhouses accounted for 17.3% of all single-family starts in the fourth quarter.

With recent improvements, the four-quarter moving average market share is approaching its all-time high, dating back to 1985.

Prior to the current cycle, the top market share for townhouse construction in the prior two decades occurred in the first quarter of 2008, when it reached 14.6% on a one-year moving average basis.

This high point was reached following a steady increase in the share commencing in the early 1990s.

Given the growing number of purchasers seeking medium-density residential districts, such as urban villages with walkable surroundings and other amenities, the long-term prospects for townhouse construction are promising.

It is possible to build anywhere that it is zoned.

[Read more about this story on Eyeonhousing.org]