By Robert Dietz | Eye on Housing
The total market share of non-site built single-family homes was 3.3% of single-family completions in 2017, according to Census Bureau Survey of Construction data and NAHB analysis. This share is expected to rise in 2018 and in the years ahead, due to the ongoing labor shortage in the residential construction sector and the need to lift labor productivity amid declining housing affordability.
For 2017, there were 26,000 total single-family units built using modular (12,000) and panelized/pre-cut (14,000) construction methods, out of a total of 795,000 total single-family homes completed. While the market share is small, there exists potential for expansion. Moreover, this 3.3% market share for 2017 represents a decline from years prior to the Great Recession. In 1997 and 1998, 7% of single-family completions were modular (4%) or panelized (3%). This marked the largest share for the 1992-2017 period.
