After reaching the 12-month high last month, existing home sales retreated in March due to lingering high mortgage rates, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Meanwhile, low resale inventory and strong demand continued to drive up existing home prices, marking the ninth consecutive...
Half of payroll workers in construction earn more than $58,500 and the top 25% make at least $79,450, according to the latest May 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). In...
As economist Milton Friedman once quipped, monetary policy has a history of operating with “long and variable lags.”[1] What Friedman was expressing is that it takes some time for the true effects of monetary policy, like the changing of the federal funds rate, to permeate...
According to the latest What Home Buyers Really Want Study*, the vast majority of home buyers are looking for a home with at least one home office (or space dedicated to work/study). More specifically, 66% would prefer to buy a home with exactly one home...
Housing starts fell in March with interest rates somewhat higher than expected last month as the latest inflation readings failed to show improvement. Builders are also still facing higher supply-side costs and tighter lending conditions. Overall housing starts decreased 14.7% in March to a seasonally...
An earlier post based on the report The Building Sustainably: Green & Resilient Single- Family Homes 2024 SmartMarket Brief focused on the prevalence of green home building. This post will examine commonly used practices in green building. This is the second part of a four-part...
Builder sentiment was flat in April as mortgage rates remained close to 7% over the past month and the latest inflation data failed to show improvement during the first quarter of 2024. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 51 in...
Over the first two months of 2024, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 155,236. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is an increase of 38.4% over the February 2023 level of 112,131. Year-to-date ending in February, single-family permits were up...
Inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy, increased for the fifth straight month, 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 energy,...
The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the first quarter of 2024 posted a reading of 66, down one point compared to the previous quarter. Demand for remodeling remains solid and an RMI of 66 is consistent with NAHB’s forecast for remodeling spending in...
Consumer prices continued to rise in March, with shelter and gasoline prices driving over half of the total increase. This marks the third consecutive strong reading. Despite a slowdown in the year-over-year increase, shelter costs continue to put upward pressure on inflation, accounting for over...
The COVID-19 pandemic created dramatic changes in the share of people working from home, which has remained elevated even after the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, only 5.7% of the U.S. workforce was working from home. This figure jumped to 17.9% in 2021 during the...
NAHB and the Dodge Construction Network published research on the prevalence of green building in The Building Sustainably: Green & Resilient Single- Family Homes 2024 SmartMarket Brief. The research found that the overall share of home builders classifying more than half their projects as green*...
Residential building workers’ wage growth accelerated to 6.2% in February. After a 0.3% increase in June 2023, the year-over-year (YOY) growth rate for residential building worker wages have been trending up over the past eight months. The recent acceleration in wage growth was mainly due...
Job growth accelerated in March, following a strong gain in February. Furthermore, the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%. March’s jobs report shows that the labor market remains resilient despite elevated interest rates. The strong job numbers likely reduce prospects for a Federal Reserve rate cut...
According to the latest What Home Buyers Really Want Study*, home buyers have rather diverse preferences when it comes to the architectural style of their home. In fact, there is no national consensus on exterior design. At best, a plurality of 34% would prefer to...
The two most wanted features in a home are a laundry room and a patio, according to NAHB’s latest study on buyer preferences—What Home Buyers Really Want Study*. Buyers in the study were given a list of 200+ features of the home and the community...
Due to tightened monetary policy, the count of total job openings for the entire economy has trended lower over the last year. This is consistent with a cooling economy that is a positive sign for future inflation readings. However, the number of open jobs for...
