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The homebuilding slowdown has spread to every corner of the country.
For the first time in nearly three years — since the third quarter of 2023 — single-family construction dropped in all seven market types tracked by the National Association of Home Builders, a sign that elevated mortgage rates, high construction costs and affordability concerns continue to weigh on the housing market.
The broad pullback marks a shift after years where growth in suburban and rural markets helped offset weakness elsewhere.
“Higher material and financing costs are acting as major headwinds to single-family production,” said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. “And while builders continue to offer price cuts and incentives, ongoing affordability challenges are keeping many potential buyers on the sidelines.”
The steepest decline occurred in large metro core counties — central counties within major metropolitan areas of more than 1 million people — where single-family permitting fell 16 percent year over year.
That drop is part of a larger trend. Large metro core counties keep losing their market share, another NAHB finding reveals, as single-family construction continually gravitates towards smaller regions. The category has shed an average of 0.1 percentage point of market share each quarter over the past decade, with the pace of decline accelerating after the pandemic. In the first quarter of 2026, large metro core counties accounted for 14.7% of single-family permits, down 1.3 percentage points over a year.
The weakness in construction mirrors a slowdown in demand. Sales of new single-family houses fell 6.2 percent in April and are down 11.3 percent year-over-year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau.
As builders pull back on single-family projects, multifamily developers are moving in the opposite direction.
Permitting for apartments accelerated in the five of seven market categories during the first quarter, led by large metro core counties, where activity jumped 20.8 percent from the last quarter of 2025.
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“Multifamily markets have remained broadly resilient, but the same pressures weighing on the single-family sector could soon affect the multifamily market as well,” said Dietz.
There were some signs of strength elsewhere in the construction industry. The number of construction job openings increased in April, from 234,000 to 259,000, while hires increased from 306,000 to 323,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has sought to ease cost pressures. On June 1, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to adjust tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper imports.