Top Ten Builder Share Declines in 2023

The top ten builders accounted for 42.2% of all new single-family home closings in 2023, down 1.3 percentage points from 2022 (43.5%). This is the second highest share captured by the top ten builders since NAHB began tracking new single-family home closings in 1989. The share represents 280,958 closings out of 665,500 closings made in 2023. However, closings by the top 10 builders constituted just 28.1% of new single-family home completions, a wider measure of home building that covers not-for-sale home construction.  

Historical data reveal an overall upward trend in the top 10 builder share of new single-family home closings since 1989. That year, the top 10 builders captured 8.7% of closings; by 2000, the share had more than doubled to 18.7%. In 2006, it reached 28.2% then dipped below that mark until 2018, when the top 10 builders captured more than 30% of closings for the first time (31.5%). After a brief decline, the share set two consecutive record highs in 2021 (34.4%) and 2022 (43.5%), before retreating slightly in 2023 (42.2%) (Figure 1). 

In terms of completions (which include both custom and built-for-sale homes), the share held by the top 10 builders was 5.6% in 1989. By 1999, the share reached double digits for the first time, achieving 11.3%. The share reached a high of 17.9% in 2006, before falling to 16.2% in 2008, and eventually recovering to 18.4% in 2012. Since breaking 20% for the first time in 2015 (21%), the share has continued its upward trend, reaching an all-time high of 28.1% in 2023 (Figure 1). 

Every top 10 builder from 2022 returned to the top 10 in 2023, with only one change occurring in the ranking of the top 10. Toll Brothers and Century Communities flipped positions in 2023, taking 9^th and 10^th respectively. D.R. Horton maintained its position as America’s largest single-family homebuilder, capturing 13.6% of the market with 90,777 closings. This marked the third consecutive year that D.R. Horton accounted for more than 10% of the market and was the 22^nd straight year of their reign atop the list. Lennar and PulteGroup remain ranked 2^nd and 3^rd at 11% and 4.3%; both companies have maintained their same rankings since 2013. Additionally, 2023 marks the second year in a row where the top 3 builders have accounted for more than a quarter of the overall closings (28.4% in 2022 and 28.9% in 2023) (Figure 2). 

Builder Magazine will soon release their 2023 Local Leaders data on the top 10 builders in the top 50 largest new-home markets in the U.S. (ranking determined by the number of single-family permits), which NAHB will analyze in a later post.