Housing affordability remains a critical issue, with 74.9% of U.S. households unable to afford a median-priced new home in 2025, according to NAHB’s latest analysis. With a median price of $459,826 and a 30-year mortgage rate of 6.5%, this translates to around 100.6 million households...
The U.S. job market continued to grow at a solid pace in February, with the unemployment rate edging up slightly to 4.1%. The labor market remains healthy overall, but there are signs of potential weakness in the coming months, driven by mass federal government layoffs...
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey, rose 4.7% month-over-month on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis, primarily driven by refinancing activity. Compared to February last year, the index is 15.6% higher. The Purchase...
Following two straight quarters of deceleration, house price appreciation accelerated slightly in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to the persistent high mortgage rates and low inventory. Although inventories of existing homes have improved from a year ago, the current 3.5-month supply remains below the...
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...
The continued shortage of existing homes for sale has helped to keep new single-family construction growing across all regions, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders release of the Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). Despite persistent factors that continue to affect housing affordability,...
Private residential construction spending declined by 0.4% in January, largely driven by a decrease in multifamily construction and home improvement spending. This decline followed three consecutive months of growth, indicating a downward shift in the monthly data. Despite the monthly drop, spending remains 3.1% higher...
The percentage of new apartment units that were absorbed within three months after completion continued to trend downwards, according to the Census Bureau’s latest release of the Survey of Market Absorption of New Multifamily Units (SOMA). The survey covers new units in multifamily residential buildings...
Mortgage rates declined marginally in February, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage falling to 6.84%. After climbing steadily since December and peaking at 7.04% in mid-January, rates have been trending downward. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased 12...
New home sales decreased in January to a three-month low, as housing affordability continues to sideline potential home buyers. Mortgage rates are expected to remain above 6% throughout 2025, coupled with elevated home prices, creating a significant affordability challenge for both first-time buyers and those...
The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, such as townhouses, duplexes and other small multifamily properties. The multifamily segment of the missing middle (apartments in 2- to 4-unit properties) has generally disappointed since the Great Recession. However, there was a noticeable uptick for this...
The traditional price gap between new and existing homes was nearly nonexistent at the end of 2024. The median price for a new single-family home sold in the fourth quarter of 2024 was $419,200, a mere $9,100 above the existing home sales price of $410,100,...
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts declined during the fourth quarter of 2024. For the quarter, 91,000 multifamily residences started construction. Of this total, 86,000 were built-for-rent. This was almost 12% lower than the fourth quarter...
An expected impact of the virus crisis was a need for more residential space, as people used homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022 and 2023, and...
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates gains for custom home builders after a period slight softening of market share. The custom building market is less sensitive to the interest rate cycle than other forms of home...
After three months of increases, existing home sales retreated in January from the 10-month high last month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales continued to be suppressed by higher mortgage rates, which remained above 6.5% despite the Fed cutting rates by 100...
Townhouse construction expanded 10% during 2024, outpacing the rest of the single-family home building market. According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the fourth quarter of 2024, single-family attached starts totaled 44,000. Over the last...
In a clear sign illustrating the housing affordability challenges facing Americans, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI) found that in the fourth quarter of 2024, a family earning the nation’s median income of $97,800 needed 38% of its...
