Stucco Remains Most Used Principal Exterior Wall Material

Stucco was the most common principal siding material for new single-family homes started in 2023 at 26.8%, according to the annual data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). Stucco was followed by vinyl siding at 25.6%, fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or Hardiboard) at 21.7% then by brick or brick veneer at 18.5%. Far smaller shares of single-family homes started last year had wood or wood products (5.1%) and stone, rock or other stone materials (1.2%) as the principal exterior wall material. 

The following graph shows the shares of each exterior siding since NAHB began tracking this data in 2000. The strongest trend has been the growing popularity in fiber cement siding. The share of exterior siding material for fiber cement siding has increased by five percentage points in the last ten years and by 14.2 percentage points in the past 20 years. Another major trend is the decline of vinyl siding. Although it has remained steady in recent years, this share has seen a 5.3 percentage point drop in the last ten years and has had a 12.8 percentage point drop in the last 20 years. Stucco has also been relatively flat in recent years but has seen an overall incline since 2000. After a low in 2010 of 17.3%, its share has risen almost ten percentage points to 26.8% in 2023.  

The Census Bureau’s SOC data is available by the nine census divisions and there are substantial differences in the use of siding across divisions. Although stucco was the most common siding material in the country as a whole, its popularity is concentrated in select regions. In 2023, vinyl siding was the most widely used primary exterior material in four out of nine census divisions. Vinyl siding was used on 83.1% of the new homes started in New England, 67.4% in the East North Central, 65.3% in the Middle Atlantic, and 43.2% in the West North Central. 

Stucco was the most used primary exterior wall material in the Pacific, Mountain and South Atlantic divisions in 2023 at 62.0%, 52.7% and 39.4%, respectively, of the new single-family homes started in those areas. Brick or brick veneer was the most common exterior siding material in the East and West South Central divisions. In the West South Central, 57.8% of the new single-family homes started in 2023 used brick or brick veneer as the primary exterior material, compared to 44.6% in the East South Central.