The 10 largest homebuilders accounted for 43.6% of new single-family home closings nationally in 2025, according to a July 30 analysis published by the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing. The post, written by NAHB economist Eric Lynch using BUILDER magazine’s 2025 data on the top 10 builders ranked by single-family permits, found that national figure significantly understates how dominant large builders have become in many individual metro areas.
Across the 50 largest new-home markets, the top 10 builders in each market controlled an average of 78.9% of new single-family activity, down slightly from 79.3% in 2024. But that average masks wide variation: in Tucson, Arizona, the top 10 builders accounted for 99.5% of new single-family permits, the highest concentration of any market analyzed. At the other end, Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee, had the lowest concentration among the 50 markets at 53.4%. Ten of the 50 metro areas exceeded 90% concentration among their top 10 builders.
The analysis also mapped how widely individual builders operate across these markets. D.R. Horton had a presence in 47 of the 50 largest markets, and Lennar in 45, with the two companies both operating in 42 of the same markets β a sign of how directly the two largest national builders compete head-to-head in most major metros. PulteGroup ranked next in geographic reach, operating in 36 of the 50 markets, followed by Meritage Homes in 22 and NVR in 20.
Concentration shifted meaningfully in some markets between 2024 and 2025. Twenty of the 50 metros saw their top-10 concentration increase year over year, led by Tucson (up 17.1 percentage points), Miami (up 16.9 points) and Richmond, Virginia (up 8.7 points). Twenty-six markets saw concentration decline, led by Philadelphia (down 18.2 points), Atlanta (down 13.4 points) and Jacksonville, Florida (down 12.1 points) β moves that reflect shifting competitive dynamics as builders adjust land positions, pricing strategies and construction pace market by market.
The data adds context to a homebuilding industry that has consolidated significantly since the 2008 housing crash winnowed the ranks of regional and local builders, leaving large national companies with public capital markets access and scale purchasing power in a stronger position to acquire land, ride out downturns and expand into new metros. That scale has been visible in this year’s earnings season: PulteGroup’s CEO recently described the housing market as “pretty good” despite an 11% revenue drop, while other large public builders have leaned on incentives and pricing strategy to keep sales moving in a higher-rate environment, including Lennar’s use of incentives averaging 12.9% of sales price this year.
What it means: The market-share figures are drawn from NAHB’s analysis of BUILDER magazine’s permit data, a verified secondary dataset the trade association compiled rather than a government source, though NAHB’s methodology and figures are presented as primary analysis of that underlying data. The wide gap between national (43.6%) and local (78.9% average) concentration is a real structural feature of the homebuilding industry worth noting for market watchers, but whether continued consolidation helps or hurts housing affordability and supply is a matter of ongoing policy debate this analysis does not resolve on its own.
