High mortgage rates and double-digit growth in home prices since COVID-19 have brought housing affordability to its lowest level in more than a decade. Given this reality, a recent NAHB study on housing preferences* asked home buyers about which specific compromises they would be willing to make to achieve homeownership. For 39% of buyers, accepting…
NAHB’s latest study on consumer preferences—What Home Buyers Really Want Study*— asked about the features and amenities buyers want in the home, but also about the type of community where they would like to live. The question is important because the home that successfully appeals to buyers doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it sits inside a…
Building upon our exploration of green building trends, major practices, and resilience strategies based on The Building Sustainably: Green & Resilient Single- Family Homes 2024 SmartMarket Brief, this article now shifts focus towards ways to increase green building within the housing market. Top Incentives to Build Green The survey asked all respondents to select the…
Green homes go beyond lessening their environmental impact; they also actively mitigate the effects of the environment upon them. All homes can face damage from environmental hazards, prompting builders to implement resiliency practices to reduce such risks. This post will detail the prevalence of resiliency building, specific practices by hazard, as well as resiliency certification…
A recent NAHB study on home buyer preferences* found that a single-family detached home remains the first purchase option for two of every three buyers. Far smaller shares are looking to buy a townhome (16%), a multifamily home (10%), or a manufactured home (5%). In the face of such strong preference for a detached home,…
According to the latest What Home Buyers Really Want Study*, the vast majority of home buyers are looking for a home with at least one home office (or space dedicated to work/study). More specifically, 66% would prefer to buy a home with exactly one home office, 13% want at least two offices, and 20% want…
An earlier post based on the report The Building Sustainably: Green & Resilient Single- Family Homes 2024 SmartMarket Brief focused on the prevalence of green home building. This post will examine commonly used practices in green building. This is the second part of a four-part series that will be published about the report. Top Green…
