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 looking to upgrade. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in…
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 type of housing construction in recent data. For the fourth…
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 U.S. Census Bureau and National Association of Realtors…
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 of 2023. The market share of rental units of multifamily…
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 housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended…
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 building. There were 47,000 total custom building starts during the…
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 basis points last year. The persistent high mortgage rates largely…
