Like Apartments, Single-Family Homes Are Taking Longer to Build

Article originally posted on Globe St. on July 11, 2023

​New housing is needed just about everywhere, but it continues to take longer to build. Developers need a reported six weeks longer to build a single-family house than the average completion time in 2021, according to the 2022 Survey of Construction from the Census Bureau.

The survey shows that the average completion time of a single-family house is around 9.6 months. Supply-side challenges and skilled-labor shortages have persisted throughout the year, the report showed.

The same goes for multifamily. The National Multifamily Housing Council’s quarterly construction survey of members in June showed persistent construction and permitting delays along with additional project requirements being imposed by local governments, putting a damper on apartment development.

During the past three months, 90% of respondents reported experiencing construction delays reversing a recent downward trend (79% in March, down from 84% in December and 90% in September), GlobeSt.com reported.

The NMHC survey also showed that 17% of respondents reported construction labor to be less available than three months ago, up from 10% in March.

As for single-family homes, those built for sale required the shortest amount of time — 8.9 months from obtaining building permits to completion — while custom builds required the longest time (13.4 months), the Census report said.

Furthermore, homes built by hired contractors normally needed around 11.3 months, and homes built for rent took about 11.6 months.

The average time from authorization to completion also varies across divisions. The division with the longest duration was New England (12.6 months), followed by the Middle Atlantic (11.8 months), the Pacific (10.8 months), the East South Central (10.1 months), and East North Central (9.7 months) in 2022, all of which rate higher than average.

The average waiting period from permit to construction start varies between 24 days in the East North Central to 47 days in South Atlantic, Census figured.