More Three-Bedroom Homes Built Last Year

In 2024, three-bedroom single-family homes reached their largest share of starts since 2011, according to the National Association of Home Builders. 

Last year, 47% of the single-family homes started had three bedrooms, 32.4% had four, 11.4% had two or fewer and 9.2% had five or more.  

In comparison to 2023, three-bedroom homes were up from 45.7%, while five-or-more-bedroom homes were down from 9.7%. Other homes held relatively steady. 

In the Middle Atlantic region (Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey), 43.4% of new single-family homes had four or more bedrooms – the second highest share after the West South Central region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana; 46.7%). The New England states had the lowest share of four-or-more-bedroom homes at 22.2%.  

Additionally, the number of bedrooms in new homes varied depending on the purpose of construction. New three-bedroom homes started last year were for: 

1. Built-for-rent: 50.5% 
2. Built-for-sale: 46.9% 
3. Contractor-built: 45.7% 
4. Owner-built: 44.8% 

Four-bedroom and five-or-more-bedroom homes were most commonly built for sale (37.1%) and built for rent (10.5%). Two-or-fewer-bedroom homes were most commonly built for rent (37.8%).