Adults ages 55 and older make up a large and growing share of the U.S. population and play an important role in the U.S. housing market. In 2024, around 103 million Americans were ages 55 or older, ranging from adults still in the labor force...
Single-family homes started construction in 2025 typically had two full bathrooms, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Construction. A full bathroom, as defined by the Bureau, is one that has a washbasin, a toilet and either a bathtub or shower, or a...
The remodeling industry is taking on a larger role within the residential construction sector. Structural tailwinds, such as an aging housing stock, the growing trend of aging-in-place among older home owners, and record-high housing wealth, will continue to grow remodeling’s market share further. As a...
Three-bedroom single-family homes remained the most common home built with respect to the number of bedrooms. The share of starts for four-bedroom homes declined for the fourth consecutive year but remained well above the shares for two-bedroom or less and five-bedroom or more homes. Despite...
Wood framing continues to dominate the U.S. single-family home construction market, according to NAHB analysis of 2025 Census Bureau data. In 2025, wood framing accounted for 94% of all completed single-family homes, maintaining its position as the leading construction method. Concrete-framed homes represented 5% of...
State labor markets showed mixed results in August, with nonfarm payroll employment increasing in a majority of states. At the same time, construction employment posted a net gain nationally, although employment trends varied across states. The unemployment rate also remained relatively low in several states,...
Single-family housing starts rebounded in August, but production remains down 4.7% year to date as builders contend with rising construction costs, lot and labor shortages, and economic uncertainty. Overall housing starts decreased 2.6% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.28 million units,...
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its September policy meeting, bringing the target range to 3.75% to 4%. The decision comes amid renewed inflation concerns and an increase in long-term interest rates. Notably, the decision...
Higher mortgage rates, worsening labor shortages and rising material costs are weighing on builder sentiment. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell three points to 32 in September, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index...
Single-family permitting activity continued to weaken through the first seven months of 2026, while multifamily permitting remained stronger compared with the same period last year. Although single-family permits declined in most regions and states, multifamily permitting increased in three of the four regions, led by...
In 2025, the number of women employed in the construction industry rose to around 1.37 million, an increase of about 31,000 from 2024. Women accounted for 11.3% of total construction employment, the highest share in the past 20 years. The growing presence of women...
The market value of households’ real estate assets rose in the second quarter, reaching $49.8 trillion, according to the most recent release of U.S. Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts. This level is 2.3% higher than in the first quarter and is 2.5% higher than a...
The custom home premium, the difference between what typical buyers pay per square foot for a contractor-built home and a spec home, reached 12.6%, its highest level since 2011, according to NAHB’s analysis of the latest Survey of Construction (SOC) data. For custom single-family detached...
Inflation in August remained sticky as renewed tensions with Iran continued pushing up oil prices, keeping pressure on the Fed to consider a rate hike at its upcoming meeting. Gasoline prices returned as the largest driver of headline inflation, accounting for one-third of the monthly...
Existing home sales fell for the third consecutive month as record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates weighed on buyers. Mortgage rates resumed an upward trend after the July ceasefire ended. Geopolitical uncertainty, bond market sell-off and inflation concerns pushed rates to 6.71% last week,...
Residential building material prices, excluding energy, rose 0.2% in August and were up 5.1% from a year ago. Energy prices rose sharply in August, as prices for energy inputs to residential construction rose 6.6% over the month. Prices for services also rose, up 1.5% over...
Mortgage application activity continued to decline in August as elevated US treasury yields pushed mortgage rates higher. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, declined 3.2% month-over-month in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the sixth...
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducts an annual census to better understand the composition and characteristics of its members. In 2025, 35% of NAHB’s membership was comprised of builder members—single-family and multifamily builders, residential and commercial remodelers, commercial builders, land developers, and manufacturers...
