What 25 Years of Building Tells Us About the Future
A look at 25 years of housing market cycles and what they tell us about the persistent housing shortage facing America today.
Ready for a history lesson?
But not a boring one...
Over the past 25 years, the U.S. housing market has experienced dramatic cycles in new home construction.
Look at the graph below:
- In the early 2000s, annual housing starts peaked at over 2 million units in 2005 before plunging during the housing crisis.
- By 2009, construction had all but collapsed to just 554,000 homes. A level unseen in modern history.
- The long, slow recovery that followed lasted most of the 2010s, with steady increases bringing starts back above the 1 million mark.
- After the pandemic, 2021 and 2022 marked a surge in building, reaching levels not seen since before 2008.
Recent years have shown a plateau: 2024 and 2025 are trending near 1,430,000 new homes per year, still below both early-2000s peaks and what is needed to tackle the nation’s persistent housing shortage.
For five years straight, the U.S. has been 3–4 million homes short of what's needed to meet demand.
Behind that number are the real challenges builders and trade partners face every day. From labor shortages and material delays to rising costs and tighter schedules.
Yet every foundation poured, and every new home completed helps close that gap.
And as the #1 exterior trade partner for builders, we’re proud to be part of the solution.
Hopefully this history lesson left you with one clear takeaway: America needs more homes. Millions more.
And while change may be slow, every single new construction home helps.