Cost to Construct a Home Rose Significantly Over Last Two Years
Construction costs accounted for 64.4% of the average price of a new home in 2024 compared to 60.8% in 2022, according to NAHB’s most recent Cost of Construction Survey.
The latest finding marks a record high for construction costs since the inception of the series in 1998 and the fifth instance where construction costs represented over 60% of the total sales price.
Broad inflation in the global economy since 2022 — particularly in building material prices — is largely to blame for the increased construction costs.
The finished lot was the second largest cost at 13.7% of the sales price, down more than four percentage points from 17.8% in 2022. The average builder profit margin was 11.% in 2024, up from 10.1% in 2022.
Explore the interactive dashboard below to view the costs and percentage of construction costs for eight stages of construction and their 36 components.
For more on the survey, please see this Eye on Housing post from NAHB economists.
Latest from NAHBNow
Sponsored Content
Jan 20, 2026
Smart Sourcing, Smarter Basis: How AI Is Changing Land AcquisitionFor decades, the process of screening off-market sites has remained painfully slow. But a shift is happening as top-tier land teams are moving away from manual data aggregation and toward AI-driven workflows to eliminate non-viable sites in minutes.
Economics | Material Costs
Jan 16, 2026
Building Material Price Growth Remains Elevated Despite a Sluggish MarketResidential building material price growth continued to climb toward the end of 2025, even as the new home construction market showed signs of slowing.
Latest Economic News
Economics
Jan 20, 2026
New Single-Family Home Size Trends: Third Quarter 2025New single-family home size has been generally falling since 2015 as a response to declining affordability conditions. An exception occurred when new home size increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022 and 2023, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended lower.
Economics
Jan 20, 2026
Third Quarter 2025 Multifamily Construction DataAccording to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts increased during the third quarter of 2025. For the quarter, 119,000 multifamily residences started construction. Of this total, 114,000 were built-for-rent.
Economics
Jan 19, 2026
Soft Conditions for Single-Family Built-for-RentSingle-family built-for-rent construction fell back in the third quarter of 2025, as a higher cost of financing and increased multifamily supply crowded out development.