Long-term mortgage rates have been declining since mid- 2025 and ended the year at their lowest level since September 2024. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.19% in December, 5 basis points (bps) lower than November. Meanwhile, the 15-year rate declined 3...
Housing’s share of the economy was 16.1% in the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest estimates of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This share is down from 16.3% in the second quarter but has remained about 16% since the fourth...
A belated GDP report shows that the U.S. economy expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter–July through September–before signs of cooling appeared in the labor market and consumer confidence weakened. According to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),...
Over the past 125 years, women have played a crucial and multifaceted role in the labor force. Increasing women’s participation in the workforce is not only essential for individual and family well-being, but also contributes significantly to overall labor force participation rates and economic growth...
As housing affordability remains a critical challenge across the country, mortgage rates continue to play a central role in shaping homebuying power. Mortgage rates stayed elevated throughout 2023 and early 2024. Recent data, however, shows a modest decline in mortgage rates. Even slight declines can...
The number of residential remodelers in the U.S. has reached a record high of 128,187 establishments, 65% higher than the number of residential builders (single-family and multifamily), which stands at 77,455. These official government counts were released by the U.S. Census Bureau as part of...
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimates, the U.S. resident population grew by 3,304,757 to a total population of 340,110,988. The population grew at a rate of 0.98%, the highest rate since 0.99% in 2001. This also marked the third straight increase in the...
Wage growth in construction continued to decelerate in April on a national basis, but the differences across regional markets remain stark. Nationally, average hourly earnings (AHE) in construction increased 3.6% year-over-year and crossed the $39.3 mark when averaged across all payroll employees (non-seasonally adjusted, NSA)....
Construction costs account for 64.4% of the average price of a home, according to NAHB’s most recent Cost of Construction Survey. In 2022, the share was 3.6 points lower, at 60.8%. The latest finding marks a record high for construction costs since the inception of...
Remote work may no longer dominate the U.S. labor force as it did during the height of the pandemic in 2020, but it still represents a substantial share of employment today. According to the latest data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), approximately 34.3 million...
In 2023, nearly 6.45 million homes, around 5% of U.S housing stock, were classified as inadequate according to the American Housing Survey (AHS). Of these, 1.65 million homes were classified as severely inadequate, showing significant concerns over housing quality. While this reveals ongoing issues in...
Despite historically low self-employment rates and the rising market share of top ten builders, residential construction remains an industry dominated by independent entrepreneurs, with nearly 80% of home builders and specialty trade contractor firms being self-employed independent contractors. Even among firms with paid employees, the...
Manufactured homes play a measurable role in the U.S. housing market by providing an affordable supply option for millions of households. According to the American Housing Survey (AHS), there are 7.2 million occupied manufactured homes in the U.S., representing 5.4% of total occupied housing and...
In September 2025, nonfarm payroll employment was largely unchanged across states on a monthly basis, with a limited number of states seeing statistically significant increases or decreases. This reflects generally stable job counts across states despite broader labor market fluctuations. The data were impacted by...
Existing home sales rose for the third consecutive month in November as lower mortgage rates continued to boost home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). However, the increase remained modest as mortgage rates still stayed above 6% while down from recent highs....
Sawmill production has remained essentially flat over the past two years, according to the Federal Reserve G.17 Industrial Production report. This most recent data release contained an annual revision, which resulted in higher estimates for both production and capacity in U.S. sawmills. While in previous...
Inflation unexpectedly eased in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) latest report. This data release was originally scheduled for December 10 but was delayed due to the recent government shutdown. While most indexes showed deceleration, this report does not necessarily prove a...
In 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased to the highest estimate in the history of HUD’s Annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. Approximately 771,500 people were recorded as living in an emergency shelter, a transitional housing program, or in unsheltered locations across the country. This count increased 18% compared to 2023, a notable increase compared to previous years as shown in graph...
