Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 38 states in June compared to the previous month while 11 states and the District of Columbia lost jobs. Rhode Island reported no change. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 372,000 in June, following a gain of 384,000 jobs in May. On…
Lumber prices have been on a roller-coaster ride over the past two years and reached to an all-time high price of $1,515 per thousand board feet in the week ending May 21, 2021, as reported by Random Lengths. However, despite higher lumber prices and ongoing supply-chain issues, wood framing remains the most dominant construction method…
The 2021 Survey of Construction (SOC) from the Census Bureau shows that the average completion time of a single-family house is around 8.2 months, which typically includes a little over a month from authorization to start and another 7.1 months to finish the construction. Moreover, it took approximately 12 days more in 2021 than in…
As rising mortgage rates and higher home prices weighed on housing affordability, existing home sales declined for five consecutive months, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The trend in home price appreciation continued albeit at a slower rate as supply finally showed sign of improvement. The median existing home prices in June continued…
Increased interest rates, building material supply chain bottlenecks and elevated construction costs continue to put a damper on the single-family housing market. For the first time since June 2020, both single-family starts and permits fell below a one million annual pace. Overall housing starts fell 2.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million…
The prices of goods used in residential construction climbed 1.5% in June (not seasonally adjusted) even as softwood lumber prices fell 23%, according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report. Prices have surged 41.7% since January 2020. Building materials (i.e., goods inputs to residential construction, less energy) prices have increased 4.8%, year-to-date, and are…
Builder confidence plunged in July as high inflation and increased interest rates stalled the housing market by dramatically slowing sales and buyer traffic. In a further sign of a weakening housing market, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes posted its seventh straight monthly decline in July, falling 12 points to 55,…
