Big Builders Keep Growing

The nation’s top 10 builders nailed almost half of all new home sales last year — a record, according to figures from the National Association of Home Builders.

With 44.7% of all closings in 2024, the share amounts to 306,932 closings out of 686,000 new single-family houses sold.

The top ten’s share has been increasing over the last 35 years. In 1989, they accounted for only 8.7% of all single-family house closings. By 2000, their share had doubled to 18.7%. It hit 28.2% in 2006 and 31.5% in 2018.

After slight declines in 2019 and 2020, their share exceeded 40% for the first time in 2022 and reached a record high this last year.

The largest builder last year was D.R. Horton with 13.7% of all sales, followed closely by the Lennar Corp. with 11%. The Pulte Group was next with 4.3%, and NVR with 3.1%. Meritage Homes was fifth with 2.1%.

In sixth place was SH Residential Holdings, a subsidiary of Japanese home builder Sekisui House, which acquired M.D.C. Holdings in 2024. Rounding out the top ten were KB Home (2%), Taylor Morrison (1.7%), Century Communities, and Toll Brothers (1.4% each).

Clayton Properties Group, which ranked 8th in 2023, fell out of the top 10 for the first time since 2019. Nine builders work under the Clayton umbrella.