Paul Emrath

Paul Emrath, Ph.D., is the vice president for survey and housing policy research for NAHB where his responsibilities include conducting statistical and economic research for NAHB and its local affiliates, as well as managing NAHB’s survey and housing policy departments. The survey department conducts the monthly survey that generates the widely cited NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, as well as special surveys such as the one used to break down construction costs in a new home. The housing policy research department conducts a broad range of policy-related research such as estimating the economic impact of home building and analyzing proposed government regulations changes for NAHB committees and councils. Since joining NAHB in 1992, Dr. Emrath has developed many of the statistical methods NAHB uses to analyze housing data, produced over 700 local impact of home building studies, and published more than 150 articles on a wide variety of housing related topics — twice winning National Investment Center awards for articles on 55+ housing. Prior to joining NAHB, he taught economic theory and statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for four years. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Builders’ and Remodelers’ Use of Technology in 2019

According to a recent NAHB study, although use of some factory-produced components like trusses has become widespread, the newer and more innovative types of construction technology, such as 3D printing and robots, have so far penetrated the residential market only to a very limited extent.  This is true for both single-family builders and residential remodelers….

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The Effect of Affordable Housing on the Surrounding Neighborhood

Although produced by NAHB’s Economists, Eye on Housing is intended for a fairly broad readership with an interest in housing, but not necessarily in the academic research published by technical journals.  Nevertheless, many EoH readers will want to know about a relatively recent technical paper published in Housing Policy Debate.  The paper is called The…

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Over Three-Fifths of Builders Have Encountered Cluster Mail Boxes

The United States Post Office has been attempting to reduce or eliminate sidewalk and curbside delivery of mail to individual homes, especially in new subdivisions.  Instead, the Post Office now wants to deliver mail primarily to centralized or “cluster” mail boxes, each serving multiple homes in a development. So far, implementation of this policy has varied across the…

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How Much Water Homes Use

The residential sector accounts for less than 8 percent of water used in the U.S., according to a recent study published by NAHB. The recent NAHB study draws on information published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  The USGS compiles data on water use  every five years.  The latest numbers (from 2010) were published in 2014.  The USGS labels water used by residences…

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