A recent Zillow report found that the number of custom-built homes has significantly dropped since 2005.
The number of contractor-built homes is down 31 percent since 2009 and owner-built homes have dropped by 53 percent, suggesting that the appeal of an owner-built home is waning. New home construction and sales are still slowly recovering overall, but are far behind existing home sales. Custom homes peaked in 2008 and 2009 before falling to a 20 percent share in overall housing starts.