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Housing’s share of the economy registered 16.3% in the second quarter of 2025, according to the advance estimate of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This reading is unchanged from a revised level of 16.3% in the first quarter and is the same as the share one year ago.
The more cyclical home building and remodeling component – residential fixed investment (RFI) – was 4.0% of GDP, level from 4.0% in the previous quarter. The second component – housing services – was 12.3% of GDP, also unchanged from the previous quarter. The graph below plots the nominal shares for housing services and RFI along with housing’s total share of GDP.
Housing service growth is much less volatile when compared to RFI due to the cyclical nature of RFI. Historically, RFI has averaged roughly 5% of GDP, while housing services have averaged between 12% and 13%, for a combined 17% to 18% of GDP. These shares tend to vary over the business cycle. However, the housing share of GDP lagged during the post-Great Recession period due to underbuilding, particularly for the single-family sector.
In the second quarter, RFI subtracted 19 basis points to the headline GDP growth rate, marking the second straight quarter of negative contributions. RFI was 4.0% of the economy, recording a $1.2 trillion seasonally adjusted annual pace. Among the two segments of RFI, private investment in structures shrunk 4.5%, while residential equipment fell 7.9%.
Breaking down the components of residential structures, single-family RFI fell 12.9%, while multifamily RFI fell 1.3%. RFI for multifamily structures has contracted for eight consecutive quarters. Permanent site structure RFI, which is made up of single-family and multifamily RFI, fell 10.2%. The other structures RFI category rose 0.6% in the second quarter.
The second impact of housing on GDP is the measure of housing services. Similar to the RFI, housing services consumption can be broken out into two components. The first component, housing, includes gross rents paid by renters, owners’ imputed rent (an estimate of how much it would cost to rent owner-occupied units), rental value of farm dwellings, and group housing. The inclusion of owners’ imputed rent is necessary from a national income accounting approach, because without this measure, increases in homeownership would result in declines in GDP. The second component, household utilities, is composed of consumption expenditures on water supply, sanitation, electricity, and gas.
For the second quarter, housing services represented 12.3% of the economy or $3.7 trillion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. Housing services expenditures fell 0.2% at an annual rate in the second quarter. Real personal consumption expenditures for housing grew 1.2%, while household utilities expenditures fell 9.2%.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for housing services are the largest component of PCE, making up 18.1% in the second quarter. The second largest component of PCE is health care services, at 17.0%. Expenditures on services totaled $14.2 trillion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis in the second quarter, more than double expenditures on goods ($6.4 trillion).
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Time-Saving Templates
“Using templates is one of the best time-saving techniques I’ve used in my various businesses over the years,” says contractor Travis Logan of Handyman Rescue Team in Seattle.
“I first started using templates, or scripts, in my early sales career after college,” he says. “By using proven sales scripts and rebuttals, I could quickly and easily replicate the success of those who came before me, since they were fine-tuned and honed over the years through actual customer interactions.
“Now, having templates ready to go eliminates the need to type out individual responses, since we have established wording and scripts for new-customer replies, existing-customer follow-ups and post-project review requests,” Logan says.
“This frees up time to spend on other critical administrative, operational or managerial tasks.”
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In 2024, there were 24,000 homes that exceeded 5,000 square feet, equating to a 2.3% market share of all new homes started. Both the number and market share for 5,000+ square foot homes experienced declines from 2023, according to the annual data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC).
The number of homes started in 2024 exceeding 5,000 square feet dropped to 24,000, a decrease from 26,000 in 2023. In 2006, the number of new 5,000+ square foot homes reached a peak of 45,000. This number proceeded to drop during the Great Recession and hit a low of 11,000 in 2009. Since 2013, the number has remained consistently above 20,000, with a recent peak of 33,000 in 2021.
Of the total number of new homes started in 2024, 2.3% had 5,000+ square feet or more of finished space, down from 2.8% in 2023. The decline marks the third consecutive drop in the share of homes this size, down from a recent peak of 2.9% in 2021. In 2015, the 5,000+ square foot share reached a record high of 3.9%. Since then, it has fluctuated between 2.3% and 3.1%.
Tabulating the major characteristics of 5,000+ square foot homes started in 2024, the data show 83% have a porch, 79% have a finished basement, 71% have a patio, 69% have four or more bathrooms, 66% have a 3-or-more car garage, 54% have five bedrooms or more, and 50% belong to a community association.
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An earlier post described how the top 10 builders in the country captured a record 44.7% of new single-family closings in 2024. BUILDER Magazine has now released additional data on the top ten builders within each of the 50 largest new home markets in the U.S., ranked by single-family permits. It is important to note that this post does not focus on the top ten largest home builders nationally; instead, it analyzes the top ten list within each of the largest 50 new housing markets.
The 2024 data show that the top 10 builder concentration in the 50 largest markets ranged from 38.9% in Kansas City, MO-KS to 97.8% in Cincinnati, OH. In 11 metro areas, the top ten builders’ market share exceeded 90%. Across all 50 metro areas, the average market share of the top 10 builders was 79.3%, up from 78.2% in 2023.
Looking at the results on a map reveals that southern California, South Carolina, Florida, and parts of the Midwest include multiple highly concentrated markets, while Texas and the Northwest include markets with lower levels of concentration (figure 1).
Lennar and D.R. Horton each made the top ten builder list in 46 markets, the most among all builders. PulteGroup was next with 36 metro markets, followed by NVR and Meritage Homes with 22 and 20 metro markets, respectively.
From 2023 to 2024, 27 metro areas saw an increase in their top 10 builders’ market share, compared with 36 increases from 2022 to 2023. Seven metro areas experienced a double-digit increase in 2024:
Oklahoma City, OK (+20.7 percentage points, 82.8%)
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA (+14.7 percentage points, 76.8%)
Punta Gorda, FL (+11.5 percentage points, 85.9%)
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (+10.7 percentage points, 87.5%)
Greenville-Anderson, SC (+10.6 percentage points, 89.3%)
Salt Lake City, UT (+10.5 percentage points, 69.8%)
Charleston-North Charleston, SC (+10.4 percentage points, 92.3%)
Meanwhile, 20 metro areas saw a decline in their top 10 builders’ market share from 2023 to 2024, up from only 9 decreases from 2022 to 2023. The largest decreases were seen in:
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL (-18.1 percentage points, 72.4%)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (-14.7 percentage points, 75.6%)
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (-11.6 percentage points, 76.8%)
Tucson, AZ (-10.4 percentage points, 82.4%
Of the remaining three largest markets, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL saw no change in its top ten builder concentration (96.2%) from 2023 to 2024, while Fresno, CA and Spartanburg, SC are new to the top 50 market list in 2024.
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8. Deborah Gliksman, Urban Oasis Landscape Design, Los Angeles
Focus on natives. Some of Deborah Gliksman’s favorite shrubs from California are the tall ‘Dark Star’ ceanothus (Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’, zones 8 to 10) and the smaller ‘Valley Violet’ ceanothus (Ceanothus maritimus ‘Valley Violet’, zones 8 to 10). Gliksman also recommends ‘Aromas’ sage (Salvia ‘Aromas’, zones 8 to 10), bush anemone (Carpenteria californica, Zone 9), ‘De La Mina’ Cedros Island verbena (Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina’, zones 8 to 10), globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua, zones 6 to 9) and St. Catherine’s lace (Eriogonum giganteum, zones 9 to 11). “They’re all stunning shrubs,” she says.
For perennials, Gliksman often uses yarrow (Achillea millefolium, zones 3 to 9), monkeyflower (Mimulus spp.), penstemons and Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana, zones 6 to 10). For ground covers, she loves ‘Silver Carpet’ aster (Corethrogyne filaginifolia ‘Silver Carpet’, zones 8 to 10), ground currant (Ribes spp.) and seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus, zones 8 to 10).
What not to plant. Gliksman advises against using invasive plants. Besides possibly taking over your garden and even your neighborhood, she says, they can compete with native species and threaten biodiversity.
Your turn: What are your favorite low-maintenance plants to grow in your garden? Tell us in the Comments.
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As for the traits True and his team look for in a new recruit: “Cultural fit will always be top of the list.
“We also look for people that want to learn and grow and who will thrive within a team environment,” he says. “If a team member is a professional communicator and understands that serving each other is how we best serve our clients, they are Hursthouse material.”
Some skills are harder to find than others, True says. “One is a work ethic of truly caring about the desired result. The balance between an extremely high level of creativity, a terrific communicator and a focused determination to excel at the highest level of client service is a rare find.
“On one hand, I feel it’s getting harder to find special people, as there [seem to] be less people entering the industry,” he says. “On the other hand, people are changing companies more often, so [in some ways] it might be a bit easier. If a company doesn’t take good care of its people, they will have a revolving door — and that’s an opportunity for Hursthouse.
“Our average seniority for team members at Hursthouse is now 13 years, with many over 20, 25 and 30 years,” True says. “We try to have our team sing about how great it is to work at Hursthouse.”
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The top ten builders captured a record 44.7% of all new U.S. single-family home closings in 2024, up 2.4 percentage points from 2023 (42.3%). This is the highest share ever captured by the top ten builders since NAHB began tracking BUILDER magazine data on new single-family home closings in 1989. The 2024 share constitutes 306,932 closings out of 686,000 new single-family houses sold in 2024. However, closings by the top 10 builders only represent 30.1% of new single-family home completions, a wider measure of home building that covers not-for-sale home construction. Also of note, the top 15 builders accounted for more than half of all closings (51%) for the first time ever in 2024.
The top ten builder share has increased significantly –albeit unevenly– in the last 35 years. In 1989, the top ten builders accounted for only 8.7% of single-family home closings. By 2000, the share had more than doubled to 18.7%, growing to 28.2% by 2006 and 31.5% by 2018. After slight declines in 2019 and 2020, the share exceeded 40% for the first time in 2022 (43.5%) and reached a record high in 2024 (44.7%). (Figure 1).
Meanwhile, the top ten builder share by completions, has also trended upward, with a share of just 5.6% in 1989. It reached double digits for the first time in 1999 (11.3%) and rose to a cycle high of 17.9% in 2006. The share broke the 20% mark for the first time in 2015 (21.0%) and has continued to trend upward since, reaching an all-time high of 30.1% in 2024 (Figure 1).
The top five highest producing builders did not change from 2023 to 2024, with D.R. Horton maintaining its position as America’s largest single-family home builder. D.R. Horton captured 13.6% of the market with 93,311 closings, marking a fourth consecutive year with a market share above 10%, and a 23rd consecutive year atop the list. Results also show that 2024 marked the third year in a row where the top three builders accounted for more than a quarter (29.9%) of overall closings, with Lennar and PulteGroup achieving 11.7% and 4.6%, respectively. With 3.3% and 2.3% of overall closings, NVR and Meritage Homes ranked fourth and fifth on the list, respectively.
Notably, SH Residential Holdings (U.S. subsidiary of Sekisui House, a Japanese homebuilder, who acquired M.D.C. Holdings in 2024) broke into the top ten in 2024, ranking sixth on the list with 2.2% of the market. Clayton Properties Group, ranking 8th in 2023, fell out of the top 10 for the first time since 2019. KB Home (2.1%), Taylor Morrison (1.9%), Century Communities (1.6%), and Toll Brothers (1.6%) round out the top 10 builders for 2024 (Figure 2).
Builder Magazine also released Local Leaders data on the top 10 builders in the top 50 largest new-home markets in the U.S. where ranking is determined by the number of single-family permits, which NAHB will analyze in a later post.
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From the softest sage to the deepest forest hue, green is having a big moment in design these days. “Green is a great color for a room because it evokes a sense of calm, balance and renewal,” says Susan McBarnet, a designer in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’s often associated with nature, which can help us feel more grounded and less overstimulated.” Take a look at 10 scrumptious green hues Houzz professionals have used on a wide variety of projects and see if any of them are a good match for your home.
1. Suffield Green by Farrow & Ball
Designer Kelsey Haywood of Haywoodmade Interiors had so much confidence in Suffield Green by Farrow & Ball that she drenched this Chicago sunroom in it. The color covers the walls, the trim and the ceiling.
“The way this color plays with the light throughout the day makes it a cheerful and yet very sophisticated green,” Haywood says. “It plays well with neutrals and brass.” The bold move of color drenching paid off. “This is one of my favorite sunrooms that we have done,” Haywood says.
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2. Forest Green by Benjamin Moore
Interior designer Daniella Villamil used a range of beautiful green paint colors throughout this art-filled Las Vegas condo. The luxe deep green on the kitchen cabinets seen here was one to which she’d given the ultimate testing and endorsement — she’d used it in her own home.
“My clients had fallen in love with this color green when they saw photos of my own kitchen,” Villamil says. “They knew they wanted something similar in their own kitchen.” The color complements the palm fronds seen outside the kitchen’s large windows and glass balcony door.
3. Flora by Benjamin Moore
During an extensive remodel completed by Craftsman Design and Renovation, homeowners Claudia Thornton and Brian Halpin chose their own paint colors. A wall of north-facing windows in their Portland, Oregon, kitchen floods the room with indirect natural light and inspired the choice of Benjamin Moore’s Flora for the cabinetry.
“This color reflects the north light that pours into the kitchen and offers such a calm welcome to the space,” Thornton says. “And the kitchen has a big wall of windows facing north, so the colors never have sunshine on them, but lots of light reflected.” Flora also works beautifully with the original architectural details of the 1916 Craftsman home. “The kitchen is the heart of our home,” Thornton says.
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4. Saybrook Sage by Benjamin Moore
These Boston-area homeowners wanted to bring historic character and visual interest into their cookie-cutter 1990s Colonial-style home. Designer Jessica Caccamo of JL Caccamo Design set the tone for the kitchen’s palette with Benjamin Moore’s Saybrook Sage.
“Saybrook Sage is a color we come back to frequently,” she says. “It’s a warm, soft green that can be a chameleon in any room. Here, we paired it with a neutral backsplash that featured natural variation in color and subtle texture for visual interest. We also love the contrast with the dark countertops.”
Saybrook Sage also looks great on walls. In this French country bedroom remodeled by Konrady & Son Construction, the color provides soothing comfort. The sage tone plays beautifully off the wood door and mantel.
5. Olympic Range by Sherwin-Williams
This Seattle remodel incorporated two wide glass walls, so consideration of the light was an important part in choosing the right shade of green for the kitchen. Other factors in the decision were cohesion with the Victorian-era architecture and the rosy glow of the polished fir floors.
“That light reflecting off of bright-colored cabinets might have made the room uncomfortably bright, leading us to explore darker color options,” says Malcom Richardson of Board & Vellum. “That hint of rose [from the flooring] is complemented by greens. With this in mind, we selected a rich jewel green that strengthens the home’s Victorian aesthetic and evokes a natural, serene feeling, linking the kitchen to the garden just outside.”
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6. Green Hydrangea by Benjamin Moore
In the same Victorian-era house seen in the previous photo, interior designer Abbas Rachaman of Board & Vellum knew that continuing the color green into the powder room would help connect the two spaces. However, he was looking to rev it up, and his clients were on board.
“We called this powder room ‘The Jewelbox,’ and we wanted to do something special,” the designer says. “It was all up to what would go with the wallpaper. Because we wanted to do something that was a pop and a surprise, we really leaned into the chartreuse. This color truly makes it such a nice surprise.”
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7. Peale Green by Benjamin Moore
Madison Jackson, lead designer at Lee Kimball, knew her Boston-area clients were excited to do something fun and bold in their game room. A saturated color was just the thing to kick it off.
“Benjamin Moore’s Peale Green felt like it hit the mark of giving the space a presence that drew you in but still felt cozy and not over the top,” Jackson says. “It paired really well with the contrasting saddle leather tones and the more analogous blue-greens in the rug and pillows.”
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8. Mediterranean Teal by Benjamin Moore
Caccamo selected Benjamin Moore’s Mediterranean Teal for this Tucson, Arizona, reading nook. “We were so happy that our client took the leap of faith to paint the entire primary living space this deep blue-green,” she says. “People often think that a darker or saturated color will make the room dark, but it is rarely the case.”
The room gets lots of bright natural Sonoran Desert light. “This color takes a big, cavernous room and makes it feel cozy,” Caccamo says. “It serves as a great backdrop for art, plants and decor.”
9. Yeabridge Green by Farrow & Ball
McBarnet, of Wild Child, specializes in playrooms. When she chose Yeabridge Green by Farrow & Ball for this room, she was thinking of the qualities it would offer not only to the young children who live here, but also to their parents.
“We loved this fresh, clean, midtone green for our clients’ playroom because it brings a sense of calm to the space,” she says. “It helps the whole family feel more grounded without taking away from the energy and fun of the room. In a space that’s all about creativity, movement and play, green provides a soothing backdrop that supports focus and emotional regulation while still feeling fresh and fun.”
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10. Grenadier Pond by Benjamin Moore
In this San Francisco Bay Area home, interior designer Ann Lowengart mixed a lively and bold wallpaper pattern with Benjamin Moore’s Grenadier Pond, a soft and calming green, on the laundry room cabinetry. The result is a pleasing balance.
“This color is energizing and calming at the same time,” the designer says. “It’s a natural sagey green but saturated enough to bring life into this space.”
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2. Mistake: Settling for Inferior Hardware
Good-quality accessories and hardware, such as pullout corner units, drawer dividers, and soft-close runners and door hinges, often get excluded from kitchen designs due to budget constraints. But this can be a false economy in the long run as features such as these can make a big difference to your kitchen, boosting its storage potential and making the space far more pleasant to use.
These features do add to the overall cost of a new kitchen, but they’re worth the extra outlay, particularly if you’re an enthusiastic cook.
Solution: Know your options. Ask your kitchen designer about all the storage and hardware options available so you can make a fully informed choice.
If you don’t specify exactly what you want, you may end up with less than ideal hardware and storage solutions, which can be a missed opportunity — think a setup that consists of more cupboards than drawers, drawers without inserts and no soft-closing hardware. If budget is a concern, focus on those features that you feel will make the most difference to your experience of the kitchen.
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Przygoda-Montgomery, who designed the shaded patio in Oro Valley, Arizona, seen here, says that a way to assess whether your yard is guest-ready is to actually host something. “If people are left standing awkwardly or are unsure where to gather, it’s a sign that the space needs better flow and a better furniture arrangement,” she says.
How to Create an Inviting Outdoor Seating Area