National Association of Home Builders Economic Research Blog

Job Growth Rebounds in March
Job Growth Rebounds in March
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The U.S. labor market showed signs of a modest rebound in March following a weak February, as payroll employment increased and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%. Job growth ...
Iran Conflict Reverses Decline in Mortgage Rates
Iran Conflict Reverses Decline in Mortgage Rates
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Mortgage rates, which dipped below 6% in February, climbed back up to end the month just under 6.4%. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.18% in March, ...
Consumer Confidence Climbs Despite Oil Price Surge
Consumer Confidence Climbs Despite Oil Price Surge
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Consumer confidence in March rose to a three-month high as consumers’ improved view of current business and labor market conditions outweighed weaker future expectations. Despite the increase, consumers remained concerned ...
Private Residential Construction Spending Slips in January
Private Residential Construction Spending Slips in January
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Private residential construction spending declined 0.8% in January 2026, following two months of gains. This decline was driven by lower spending across single-family, multifamily construction, and home improvement. Despite the ...
Soft Construction Labor Market Shows Decline for Open Positions
Soft Construction Labor Market Shows Decline for Open Positions
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The number of open positions in construction in February was down year-over-year, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The current level of open jobs ...
NAHB HBGI: Micro Markets Lone Bright Spot for Single-Family Building in Fourth Quarter
NAHB HBGI: Micro Markets Lone Bright Spot for Single-Family Building in Fourth Quarter
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Single-family construction declined further in the fourth quarter in all but sparsely populated micro counties, according to the NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). Meanwhile, multifamily construction showed growth in ...
State/Local Property Tax Revenue Rises Past $210 Billion in the Fourth Quarter
State/Local Property Tax Revenue Rises Past $210 Billion in the Fourth Quarter
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Property tax revenue collected by state and local governments rose for the ninth consecutive quarter according to the Census Bureau’s quarterly summary of state and local tax revenue. Total tax ...
Age of Housing Stock by State
Age of Housing Stock by State
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According to the latest data from the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS), the median age of owner-occupied homes has reached 42 years old. The age of the housing stock is ...
Almost Half of the Owner-Occupied Homes Built Before 1980
Almost Half of the Owner-Occupied Homes Built Before 1980
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Around 47% of the U.S. housing stock was built in the 1980s and earlier. The median age of owner-occupied homes climbed to 42 years old in 2024, up from 31 ...
Comparing New and Resale Prices: 4Q25
Comparing New and Resale Prices: 4Q25
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In the fourth quarter of 2025, the median price for a new single-family home was $405,300, which was $9,600 lower than the median price of an existing home, which stood ...
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Nationally, across the 86 million owner-occupied homes in the U.S., the average annual real estate taxes paid in 2023 was $4,112, according to NAHB analysis of the 2023 American Community Survey. Homeowners in New Jersey continued to pay the highest real estate taxes, paying an...

Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—decreased 0.6% in September according to the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to a year ago, this index was down 0.1% in September...

Residential improvement spending softened in 2023 due to elevated interest rates, high inflation, and sluggish home sales. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), expenditures for residential home improvements rose 2% to $363 billion in 2023, from $356 billion...

Inflation continued to ease in September and remained at a 3-year low as shelter costs continued to moderate. Shelter costs, the main driver of inflation since early 2023, saw their annual growth rate fall below 5% for the first time since February 2022. With the...

The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the third quarter of 2024 posted a reading of 63, down two points compared to the previous quarter. Remodelers remain optimistic about the market even though the overall RMI edged down for the third consecutive quarter. Some...

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 49 states and the District of Columbia in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2024 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Alaska reported an economic contraction during this time. The...

Approximately 2.3 million tax returns filed for tax year 2023 utilized the Energy Efficient Home Improvement credit (25C tax credit), according to the latest IRS clean energy tax credit statistics. Through May 23rd of the 2024 tax filing season for 2023 returns, almost 138 million...

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 32 states in August compared to the previous month, while 17 states and the District of Columbia saw a decrease. Kansas reported no change. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in...

While the share of new homes with patios continues to climb, the share with decks has hovered at a historic low of under 18%, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the HUD/Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC). Every year from the re-design of the...

New manufactured homes saw a decline in shipments in 2023 compared to the previous year. According to the Manufactured Housing Survey (MHS), 89,169 manufactured homes were shipped in 2023, a decrease of 21% from the 112,882 homes shipped in 2022. The Census defines a manufactured...

NAHB published research earlier this year on home buyer preferences called What Home Buyers Really Want. Consumers were asked to rate how 19 technology features would influence their home purchase decision, if at all, using the following four-point scale: Seventy-eight percent of home buyers rated...

The September jobs report indicates that the U.S. labor market remains strong. Job growth accelerated, and the unemployment rate fell to a three-month low of 4.1%. Meanwhile, job growth for the previous two months (July and August) was upwardly revised. In September, wage growth accelerated...

In 2023, 66% of newly completed single-family homes featured two-car garages, according to NAHB’s analysis of the Census’s Survey of Construction data. This was the most common parking option across all Census divisions. By Census division, South Atlantic had the highest share of two-car garages...

With housing being a key issue for the 2024 election cycle, it is worth analyzing distinct characteristics as well as similarities that housing markets in congressional districts share. The differences start with a substantial variation in homeownership rates across congressional districts. While the 2023 American...

In 2023, a quarter of new homes were built with a two-story foyer, down slightly from 26% in 2022, according to data obtained from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) and tabulated by NAHB. The market share of two-story foyers has been generally trending...

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey, rose 18.4% month-over-month on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis, driven primarily by a surge in refinancing activity. Compared to September 2023, the index increased by 47%....

Private residential construction spending fell 0.3% in August, according to the Census Construction Spending data. Nevertheless, it remained 2.7% higher compared to a year ago. The monthly decline in total private construction spending for August was largely due to reduced spending on single-family and multifamily...

After a period of slowing associated with declines for some elements of residential construction, the count of open construction sector jobs bounced back in the August data, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). However, construction job openings remain...

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