Since 1996, NAHB has been producing customized studies that estimate the jobs, income, and taxes generated by home building in various metropolitan areas, non-metropolitan counties, and states across the country.   Early in 2012, NAHB delivered the 700th such study to the customer who commissioned it.   Parts of the country covered by the 700 NAHB local impact studies to date are shown in the map below.   The darker green shading indicates studies covering metro areas or non-metro counties; the somewhat lighter orange shading indicates studies produced for an entire state.

Over the years, the 700 local impact studies have been used in a variety of ways—including helping to get individual projects approved, countering anti-growth proposals, and simply generating favorable publicity for the home building industry in local press.  The individual studies are property of the customers who commissioned and paid for them.  However, a local impact study for a typical metropolitan area is available on NAHB’s local impact of home building page.  

Among other things, the study shows that building 100 single-family homes in a typical metro area generates

• $21.1 million in local income,
• $2.2 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments, and
• 324 local jobs in roughly the first year—and                                                           
• $3.1 million in local income,
• $743,000 in taxes and other revenue for local governments, and
• 53 local jobs in ongoing, annual impacts that result from the new homes being occupied, and the occupants paying taxes and otherwise participating in the local economy year after year. 

The complete “typical metro” study, which includes more detail (such as local jobs by industry, and impacts for remodeling and multifamily construction) and explains the relatively conservative methodology NAHB uses to estimate the economic benefits of home building  can be printed or downloaded instantly at no charge. 

Also available instantly and at no cost on the same web page is a companion study that shows how much new housing costs local governments in a typical metropolitan area, and how quickly new housing pays for itself.   Since 2005, many NAHB local impact studies have included estimates of the costs, as well as the benefits, of home building.

In cases where estimates for a typical metropolitan area are insufficient, and—like 700 others before you—you’d like to obtain a customized local impact of home building report, the easiest way to obtain information is to contact Elliot Eisenberg (202- 266-8398, eeisenberg@nahb.com) in NAHB’s Housing Policy Department.

Keep in mind that the NAHB studies discussed above are designed to capture only local impacts (excluding, for example, upstream jobs generated in manufacturing which aren’t typically located in the same place the homes are built).   NAHB produces separate, national impact of home building estimates that include these manufacturing jobs and have a number of other differences from the local estimates.   NAHB recommends deciding upfront if you are most interested in impacts of home building at the local or national level, picking one set of estimates (local or national), and sticking with it to avoid confusion.

Tags: economics, home building, housing, impact of home building, jobs