Home Building Geography Index (HBGI)

Indices
Published

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 fourth quarter of 2023 rollout of the HBGI focuses on the population density-based delineation of home building that has been the mainstay of the HBGI while also including building analysis based of coastal vs. non-coastal counties.

The latest findings illustrate that labor shortages, supply shortages and higher mortgage rates continue to be issues for the single-family and multifamily markets. Other key findings for fourth quarter of 2023 include:

  • The year-over-year growth rates for many single-family markets increased from the first quarter of 2023 through the last three months of the year, with only micro counties having a lower growth rate in the fourth quarter among all markets compared to the first quarter.
  • In the multifamily sector, growth rates were negative or holding steady in the nation’s largest metro and suburban counties, while growth rates exhibited the strongest readings in lower density areas.

Download the data file of the full HBGI findings here.

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.