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  • Private Residential Spending Keeps Rising in August

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    NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 0.4% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $786.6 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 24.3% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are attributed to the strong growth of spending on improvements, while spending on single-family and multifamily constructions slipped…. Read More ›

  • Women Make Up 10.9% of the Construction Workforce

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    The number of women employed in the construction industry grew slightly in 2020, rising to around 1.17 million, while the construction industry lost 587,000 jobs in 2020 when the pandemic hit the economy. Currently, women make up a growing share of the construction employment, up to 10.9% in 2020 from 10.3% in 2019. As the construction skilled labor shortage remains… Read More ›

  • Private Residential Spending Increased in July

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    NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 0.5% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $773.0 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 27% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are attributed to the strong growth of spending on single-family construction and improvements. Single-family construction spending rose to… Read More ›

  • 65% of New Single-family Homes Used Slab Foundation in 2020

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    NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) shows that 65% of all new single-family started in 2020 were built on slab foundations, followed by 22% with a full/partial basement and 12% with a crawl space. The gap between slab and full/partial basement foundation adoption rates is growing: the share of new homes built on slabs steadily increased from 46.0%… Read More ›

  • More Young Workers Join the Construction Labor Force

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    The latest labor force statistics from the 2019 American Community Survey show that more young people are entering the construction trades. The share of workers under the age of 25 reached 10.8% in the construction industry in 2019, compared to only 9.7% in 2015. Consequently, the median age of construction workforce is 41 in 2019, a year younger than in… Read More ›

  • June Gains for Private Residential Spending

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    NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1.1% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $763.4 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 29.3% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are attributed to the strong growth of spending on single-family construction and improvements. Single-family construction spending rose to… Read More ›

  • Disposable Personal Income Dips in June

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    The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income edged up in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $20,414 billion. The increase in personal income was largely due to the increase in compensation of employees, which was partly offset by the declines in the government social benefits, including the economic… Read More ›

  • Second Quarter of 2021 Homeownership Rate at 65.4%

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    The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate declined to 65.4% in the second quarter of 2021. Compared to prior reports, the data was affected less significantly by the pandemic, since in-person interviews were back in 99% of the sample area. The national homeowner vacancy rate stayed at a record low of 0.9%, while the rental… Read More ›

  • Private Residential Spending Edges Up in May

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    NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 0.2% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $751.7 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 28.7% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are attributed to the strong growth of spending on single-family construction. Single-family construction spending rose to a $402.3… Read More ›

  • Home Building Construction Times Accelerated in 2020

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    The 2020 Survey of Construction (SOC) from the Census Bureau shows that the average completion time of a single-family house is around 7.8 months, which usually includes a little over a month from authorization to start and another 6.8 months to finish the construction. Moreover, tt took around 10 days less in 2020 than in 2019, pausing the upward trend… Read More ›