Minority-Owned Residential Building Firms Continue to Rise

The share of minority-owned new residential builders and remodelers has more than doubled since the Great Recession, with noticeable gains from 2017 to 2022.  Nevertheless, when compared to the overall U.S. population, minority-owned firms continue to be underrepresented within both housing sectors.

New Residential Builders

Based on data from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) from the U.S. Census Bureau, 14% of new residential building firms¹ were minority-owned in 2022.  The Census classifies firms as minority-owned if the owner with majority share (i.e., 51% or more of stock or equity in the business) identifies as “any race and ethnicity combination other than non-Hispanic and White.”  In 2007, when NAHB began tracking this data, only 6% of residential builders were minority-ownedSurvey of Business Owners (SBO). The SBO was discontinued in 2012 and replaced by the ABS moving forward.”>². From 2017 to 2022, the number of minority-owned new residential builder firms increased 64%, from 4,938 to 9,965.

Residential Remodelers

The share of minority–owned residential remodeling firms³ also continues to rise, more than doubling from 8% in 2007 to 18% in 2022.  From 2017 to 2022, the number of minority-owned residential remodeling firms jumped by 91%, from 11,565 to 22,119.

In contrast to the 14% of residential builders and 18% of residential remodelers that were minority-owned in 2022, around 40% of the overall U.S. population that year belonged to a racial minority group2022 American Community Survey.”>⁴.

1. New residential building firms comprise of new single-family housing construction (NAICS: 236115), new multifamily housing construction (NAICS: 236116), and new housing for-sale builders (NAICS: 236117).
2. Data for 2007 and 2012 within this blog post was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners (SBO). The SBO was discontinued in 2012 and replaced by the ABS moving forward.
3. NAICS: 236118
4. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 American Community Survey.