According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), custom homes accounted for 17.6 percent of new single-family homes started—down slightly from the 17.8 percent recorded in 2021 and the lowest the annual custom home share has been since the 2005 re-design of the SOC. The custom home market consists of contractor-built and owner-built houses—homes built one at a time for owner occupancy on the owner’s land, with either the owner or a builder acting as a general contractor. The alternatives are homes built for sale. …Although the custom-home percentage declined slightly in 2021, more single-family homes were started; so, the number of custom homes started in 2021 (199,683) was actually higher than the number of custom homes started in 2020 (176,499).