The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume by Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey, has been hovering around 200 since October 2022 as higher mortgage rates and low resale inventory continue to hamper potential buyers. On a week-over-week change, total mortgage,...
Due to tightened monetary policy, the count of open jobs for the economy and construction is declining, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). This is consistent with a somewhat cooler economy, which is a positive sign for future...
Fueled by a lack of existing inventory and pent-up demand, single-family permit growth is occurring across all tracked geographic regions of the nation. The opposite holds true for the multifamily sector, according to the latest findings from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Home...
Private residential construction spending rose 0.1% in April, following a 0.4% decline in March. The seasonally adjusted annual pace reached $890.4 billion. Total private residential construction spending is 8% higher compared to a year ago. This monthly increase in total construction spending is attributed to...
The median age of construction workers is 42, one year older than a typical worker in the national labor force, according to NAHB analysis of the most recent 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) data. However, more younger people are joining the construction industry. Despite some...
The volume of total outstanding acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) loans posted an additional decline during the first quarter of 2024 as interest rates remain elevated and financial conditions are tight. However, AD&C loan conditions will ultimately improve when the Fed begins reducing the federal...
The Census Bureau’s latest release of the Survey of Market Absorption of New Multifamily Units (SOMA) estimates that 42% of 91,060 unsubsidized apartments completed in the fourth quarter of 2023 were absorbed (rented) within the first 3 months following completion. For condominiums, 56% of the...
According to the latest 2022 ACS, 11.2 million people, including self-employed workers, worked in construction in 2022. NAHB estimates that out of this total, 4.7 million people worked in residential construction, accounting for 2.9% of the US employed civilian labor force. Home building in the...
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index (HPI) increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.65% for March. This was following an adjusted 6.42% rate gain for February. On a year-over-year basis, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index...
The desirability of new homes continues to grow. Faced with the alternative of choosing between an existing home and a newly built home, 61% of home buyers in a recent NAHB study* indicated a new home is their first preference. That marks the highest share...
Mortgage rates have increased on a monthly basis, according to data from Freddie Mac. As of end of April 2024, the 30-year FRM – Commitment rate, increased by 17 basis points (bps) to 6.99 percent from 6.82 percent in March. This was a 35 bps...
Mortgage rates that averaged above 7% since mid-April per Freddie Mac data acted as a drag on new home sales last month. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in April fell 4.7% to a 634,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in...
A new quarterly Cost of Housing Index (CHI) highlights the burden that housing costs represent for middle and low-income families. In its inaugural release for the first quarter of 2024, CHI revealed that a typical family in the U.S. must spend 38% of its income...
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 disappointed since the Great Recession. For the first quarter of 2024, there were just...
Existing home sales fell for the second straight month in April, after a big monthly drop in March, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Meanwhile, low resale inventory and strong demand continued to drive up existing home prices, marking the tenth consecutive month...
An expected impact of the virus crisis was a need for more residential space, as people use 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 a slowing market for custom home building after a recent gain in market share. The subsector’s greater reliance on cash buyers has not shielded it from recent market...
Close to 23% (or over 2.5 million) of workers employed in construction are self-employed, according to the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS). As industry payrolls expanded in 2022, the share of self-employed inched down. However, the share remained higher than it was in 2019, before...
