Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 37 states and the District of Columbia in March compared to the previous month, while it decreased in 12 states. Wyoming reported no change during this time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in March following a gain of 117,000 jobs…
Constrained housing affordability conditions due to elevated interest rates, rising construction costs and labor shortages led to a reduction in housing production in March. Overall housing starts decreased 11.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and…
Growing economic uncertainty stemming from tariff concerns and elevated building material costs kept builder sentiment in negative territory in April, despite a modest bump in confidence likely due to a slight retreat in mortgage interest rates in recent weeks. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 40 in April, edging up…
Home builders have already started to feel the effects of U.S. tariff policy, according to recent NAHB member surveys. This is true even though the Administration did not announce its list of reciprocal tariffs until April 2nd, lumber along with USMCA-compliant imports from Canada and Mexico were exempt, and a week later the Administration enacted…
Permits continue the downward trend for the second month in a row. Over the first two months of 2025, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 147,119. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a decline of 5.2% over the February 2024 level of 155,236. For multifamily, the total number of…
The most common sources for products used in home building and remodeling are specialty retailers, lumber yards, and wholesale distributors, according to two recent NAHB surveys. The surveys include one of single-family homebuilders in the October 2024 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) and one of remodelers in the Q3 2024 NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market…
Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—were up 0.6% in March according to the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase in February was revised upward to 0.7%. The Producer Price Index measures prices that domestic producers receive for their…
