Articles

"After a surprising gain for housing affordability in 2020 that was driven by historically low interest rates, housing emerged as a bright spot for the overall economy," said NAHB chairman Chuck Fowke, a custom home builder from Tampa, Fla. "However, the first quarter reading of the HOI is an indication that affordability will further decline this year as higher lumber and other material costs and longer construction times will act as headwinds for the market."  Read More

"The remodeling market took a hit last year at the start of the pandemic, but it's completely turned around now," said NAHB Remodelers chair Steve Cunningham, CAPS, CGP, a remodeler from Williamsburg, Virginia. "Remodelers are now facing intense backlog on projects due to supply chain delays, continued labor shortages and an abundance of project leads." Read More

Personal income increased $4.21 trillion, or 21.1 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $616.0 billion, or 4.2 percent, in March. Economic impact payments established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was enacted on March 11, 2021, were distributed. Read More

BEA News: Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2021 (Advance Estimate) The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today: Real gross domestic… Read More

Soaring lumber prices that have tripled over the past 12 months have caused the price of an average new single-family home to increase by $35,872, according to new analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Read More

Strengthening to a score not seen since pre-Great Recession, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) logged its second positive mark since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA). Read More

Low interest rates and strong consumer demand fueled a solid increase in new home sales in March, despite the ongoing building materials challenges impacting the industry. Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 20.7 percent from an upwardly revised February number, to a 1.02 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the highest sales pace since September 2006. Read More

Homeownership affordability is fundamental to the health of the remodeling market because younger households are traditionally the most active group for home improvement projects. Households under age 35 often begin with DIY efforts and then increase their spending as they turn to professionally installed projects as both their incomes and families grow. More affordable areas have allowed younger households the ability to purchase a home earlier in their lives and begin making changes. Read More

"While mortgage interest rates have trended higher since February and home prices continue to outstrip inflation, housing demand appears to be unwavering for now as buyer traffic reached its highest level since November," said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. "NAHB's forecast is for ongoing growth in single-family construction in 2021, albeit at a lower growth rate than realized in 2020." Read More

In spite of the struggling economy in 2020 - the pandemic’s impact sent U.S. GDP to a 3.5% decrease from the previous year -, some segments of the economy in the United States remained healthy last year. One of them is the construction industry, which performed very well, bolstered by the strong housing market. U.S. construction spending (which includes both private and public residential and non-residential construction) increased for the ninth consecutive year to its highest level on record. The $1.43 trillion total represented a 4.7% increase from the previous year. Read More