Average home construction takes 13.7 months in US amid labor shortage

The average time to build a home in the U.S. can stretch to nearly 14 months in some regions, driven by stringent regulations, labor shortages and other construction constraints, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). 

The Middle Atlantic faces the longest waiting period, with the average time between when a project is officially approved to when it is completed being 13.7 months. That’s based on the 2024 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). 

New England follows closely behind with the average time of just over 13 months. In the Pacific region, the time it takes for a project to begin until its completed is about 10.8 months, according to the data. In the Mountain region and East North Central region, it takes 10 months and 9.4 months on average, respectively. These regions exceeded the nation’s average of 9.1 months. 

New homes under construction in Vacaville, California, on Sept. 3, 2025. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The release of the data comes as the housing market is working to boost supply to help ease affordability challenges faced by sellers and prospective homebuyers. 

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The shortest construction period is in the South Atlantic region, where it takes an average of 7.8 months to complete a home. The average waiting period from permit to construction start also varies, with the shortest time of 0.9 months in the East North Central to the longest of 2.1 months in the Pacific region.  

Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner told FOX Business that the “regulatory environment is the big story here.” Getting the actual permits to start building in areas like the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Pacific takes much longer compared to the middle of the country, where it is a lot more permissible. 

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“That really comes down to not only zoning regulations, but environmental regulations,” Berner said. California, according to Berner, is a great example of this. But he further noted that in the Northeast, “zoning is so complicated and so onerous that you know builders just have a much tougher time even getting the idea to start something.” 

The shortest construction period is in the South Atlantic region, where it takes an average of 7.8 months to complete a home. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

He laid blame on the “number of pages of legislation about what can be built where” as well as the fact that there is a “lot of overlapping jurisdictions between different counties, municipalities, states, everything else.”  

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Put simply, there are just “more hoops to jump through” compared with regions like the…