Home Building Geography Index (HBGI)
The Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) is a quarterly measurement of building conditions across the country and uses county-level information about single-family and multifamily permits to gauge housing construction growth in various submarkets. The HBGI for the third quarter of 2024 focuses on the population density-based delineation of home building that has been the mainstay of the HBGI.
Key Findings for Q3 2024
- Single-family construction did continue to show growth across most HBGI geographic areas in the third quarter, albeit at a slower rate than compared to the same time period last year, even as mortgage rates remained high.
- In the multifamily sector, multifamily construction across much of the nation in the third quarter of 2024 remained lower than last year. The exception was in lower density areas, as housing affordability issues remain a key concern, and populations have increased outside of urban centers.
- A full 50% of the U.S. population live in counties that are in the 90th to 100th percentile when it comes to population density. This means that half of the population lives in the top 10% of the high-density areas in the nation. This trend seemed to be occurring prior to the Covid pandemic, as the market share for high-density counties had fallen from 39.7% in the first quarter of 2018 to 37.8% in the first quarter of 2020.
Download the data file of the full HBGI findings
Regional Building Growth Conditions
NAHB classified all counties in the U.S. as one of seven regional categories based on population density and regional location. For each area, NAHB tracked single-family and multifamily growth rates (not seasonally adjusted) and market shares.
