According to the most recent Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC), more than half of new single-family residences built in 2024 were two or more stories.
After dropping in 2023, the proportion of homes with two or more stories grew in 2024, continuing the rising trend that began in 2020.
The percentage of new residences with two or more stories increased from 51.3% in 2023 to 52.5% in 2024, while the proportion of new homes with one story decreased from 48.7% to 47.5%.
Nationally, more multi-story residences were built in 2024, but the proportion varied greatly across the country.
Single-story homes were more popular among new homeowners in the Midwest and South.
In the Midwest (West North Central and East North Central), 58.8% and 50.7% of new residences built were one story, respectively, but in the South (East South Central and West South Central), the shares were 59.5% and 58.1%.
However, the South Atlantic division was an exception, with one-story home sales dropping to 44.4%, the lowest level since 2019.
Although single-story homes are more numerous in the Midwest and South, their share will decrease in 2024 in the East North Central (Midwest), South Atlantic (South), and East South Central (South).
This implies a slow increase trend in two or more storey homes across the South following COVID.
Following the national trend, five of the nine divisions had a higher proportion of newly constructed two or more story dwellings.
The Northeast and West had the largest two-story share of new homes, with the Middle Atlantic and New England at 75.9% and 69.7%, respectively, and the Pacific and Mountain at 57.9% and 56.8%.
However, both Northeast divisions fell from 2023 levels, with New England posting its lowest two-or-more story share since NAHB began tracking in 2017.
Meanwhile, new residences built with two or more stories in the Mountain and Pacific divisions saw an increase in their two-story shares.
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