Natalia Siniavskaia

Natalia Siniavskaia, Ph.D., is the assistant vice president for housing policy research at NAHB. She leads a wide range of statistical and economic research on various home building regulation and housing policy topics, including construction labor and immigration, environmental and zoning regulation, housing affordability, and the economic impact of home building, among others. While working for NAHB, she developed a model for estimating housing’s contribution to Gross State Product. Before being promoted to assistant vice president, she worked at NAHB as housing policy economist and senior housing policy economist. Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Dr. Siniavskaia was assistant professor of economics at the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida, and senior analyst at Corporate Executive Board. She holds a doctorate in economics from The Ohio State University.

Square Foot Prices More than Double Inflation in 2022

Median square foot prices (excluding record-high improved lot values) for new for-sale single-family detached (SFD) homes started in 2022 increased 18%, according to NAHB’s analysis of the latest Survey of Construction data. Increases for square foot prices in new custom SFD homes were similarly high, averaging 19%, more than double the US inflation of 8%…

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States with Highest and Fastest Rising Construction Wages

Despite a housing market slowdown but reflecting persistent long-term labor challenges, wages in construction continue to rise, often outpacing and exceeding typical earnings in other industries.  According to the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), average hourly earnings (AHE) in construction vary greatly across 43 states that reported…

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States and Construction Trades Most Reliant on Immigrant Workers, 2021

Earlier this year, we published a post highlighting a continuing high reliance of construction on immigrant workers post pandemic. Immigrants make one in four construction workers. The share is significantly higher, reaching 30%, among construction tradesmen. In some states, reliance on foreign-born labor is even more pronounced with immigrants comprising close to 40% of the…

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