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"Housing affordability will continue to be a top concern this year," said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. "On the demand side of the housing market, limited inventories of single-family homes generated strong price gains in 2020. While supply-side pressures, such as resurgent lumber prices, a shortage of buildable lots, inconsistent access to building materials and a regional skilled labor deficit foreshadow higher costs and longer build times this year. A changing regulatory landscape threatens to further erode housing affordability and make the tight inventory environment worse." Read More

Record-low mortgage rates offset record-high home prices to keep housing affordability steady in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released today. Though affordability rates held firm, regulatory and supply-side challenges threaten to aggravate affordability problems in the year ahead. Read More

“The remodeling market continues to benefit from a strong housing market—including accelerating growth in homebuilding, sales, and home equity,” says Chris Herbert, managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. “In addition to routine replacement and repair projects, homeowners are likely to pursue more and larger discretionary home improvements this year as the broader economy recovers.” Read More

Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market remained high in the fourth quarter, inching down one point from an all-time high to 82, according to the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. Read More

The December reading of 1.67 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts increased 12.0 percent to a 1.34 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, decreased 13.6 percent to a 331,000 pace. Read More

Personal income increased 0.6 percent (monthly rate) while consumer spending decreased 0.2 percent in December as many provisions of the CARES Act continued to wind down before the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act was enacted on December 27, 2020 Read More

[Washington] Higher home prices stemming from rising lumber and other building material costs as well as a lack of inventory due to a shortage of buildable lots offset solid demand for new home sales in December. Despite a brief slowing in sales activity toward the end of the year, new home sales in 2020 posted a strong 18.8 percent gain over 2019. Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, reflecting both the continued economic recovery from the sharp declines earlier in the year and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic Read More

"Despite robust housing demand and low mortgage rates, buyers are facing a dearth of new homes on the market, which is exacerbating affordability problems," said NAHB chairman Chuck Fowke, a custom home builder from Tampa, Fla. "Builders are grappling with supply-side constraints related to lumber and other material costs, a lack of affordable lots and labor shortages that delay delivery times and put upward pressure on home prices. They are also concerned about a changing regulatory environment." Read More

"The remodeling market was consistently strong throughout 2020, as home owners had more time on their hands to improve their homes and add space and efficiency," said NAHB Remodelers chair Tom Ashley, Jr., CAPS, CGP, CGR, a remodeler from Denham Springs, La. "However, activity slowed a bit at the end of the year as a result of the rising Covid-19 cases and an increase in economic insecurity." Read More