Existing home sales fell for the fourth straight month in June due to lingering high mortgage rates and record-high prices, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Although low resale inventory continued to push prices to another record high, the months’ supply of inventory...
Stucco was the most common principal siding material for new single-family homes started in 2023 at 26.8%, according to the annual data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). Stucco was followed by vinyl siding at 25.6%, fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or...
The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the second quarter of 2024 posted a reading of 65, down one point compared to the previous quarter. The RMI remains solidly in positive territory, and NAHB continues to project that remodeling activity has stabilized at a...
The top ten builders accounted for 42.2% of all new single-family home closings in 2023, down 1.3 percentage points from 2022 (43.5%). This is the second highest share captured by the top ten builders since NAHB began tracking new single-family home closings in 1989. The...
Elevated interest rates for home mortgages and construction and development loans kept single-family production and demand in check during June. Overall housing starts increased 3.0% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department...
Mortgage rates that averaged 6.92% in June per Freddie Mac, along with elevated rates for construction and development loans, continue to put a damper on builder sentiment. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 42 in July, down one point from...
NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) shows that 72.4% of new single-family homes started in 2023 were built on slab foundations, 16.6% were built with full or partial basements, and 9.9% with crawl spaces. The share of new homes built on slabs has...
Inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy, rose 0.19% in the month of June according to the most recent producer price index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for inputs to residential construction, goods less food and...
Both overall and core inflation continued to slow in June, as a decline in gasoline prices offset the increase in shelter costs. This is another dovish signal for future monetary policy, following a significant downward revision to the job report. Despite a slowdown in the...
Lot values for single-family detached spec homes continued to rise, with national values reaching a new high in 2023, according to NAHB’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) data. The U.S. median lot value for single family detached for-sale homes started in...
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey, increased by 8.2% on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis from May to June. In comparison to June 2023, the index is up by 1.0%. The Purchase...
Close to two thirds (65%) of new single-family detached homes sold in 2023 were built on lots under 9,000 square feet, which is less than 1/5 of an acre. According to the latest Survey of Construction (SOC), this is the highest share on record and...
Reaching the highest level of multifamily completions since 1987, 450,000 multifamily units were completed in 2023, with 216,000 units completed in buildings with fewer than 50 units according to NAHB Analysis of the Census Bureau’s Characteristics of Units in New Multifamily Buildings Completed. This was...
There is a mismatch between the prices of homes being built, and the prices home buyers expect to pay, according to recent surveys from NAHB and the U.S. Census Bureau. While 38% of buyers expect to pay less than $250,000 for their next home (and...
The rising trend of two or more stories homes reversed in 2023, according to data obtained from the US Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) and tabulated by NAHB. The share of homes started with two or more stories decreased for the first time in...
Due to tightened monetary policy, the count of open construction sector jobs shifted lower in the early Spring but is now stabilizing, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). This shift lower is consistent with a somewhat cooler labor...
Private residential construction spending was down 0.2% in May after surging 0.9% in the prior month, according to the construction spending data by the U.S. Census Bureau. Nevertheless, spending remained 6.5% higher compared to a year ago. The monthly decline in total private construction spending...
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 39 states and the District of Columbia in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the last quarter of 2023 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Ten states reported an economic contraction during this time,...
