Articles

Spending on residential improvements will continue to grow at a healthy pace over the next two years, according to experts speaking at an online press conference hosted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelers during the 2021 International Builders' Show virtual experience (IBSx). Professional remodelers from across the country agreed with the forecast, citing increased demand during COVID-19 and consumer confidence. Read More

Soaring lumber prices are adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home, pricing out millions of potential home buyers and impeding the residential construction sector from moving the economy forward, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Read More

Regulatory and supply-side challenges coupled with slowing rent growth and rising vacancy rates will weaken the multifamily construction market in 2021. However, the development market should stabilize by 2022, according to economists from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) who participated in an online press conference as part of the 2021 NAHB International Builders' Show virtual experience (IBSx). Read More

"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