National Association of Home Builders Economic Research Blog

Which Local Markets Track National Trends the Most: 2024 Multifamily MAI
Which Local Markets Track National Trends the Most: 2024 Multifamily MAI
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Following the release of the 2024 single-family MAI last week, the National Association of Home Builders developed the Multifamily Market Association Index (MAI) to measure how closely multifamily building permits ...
Multifamily Developer Confidence Increases in Third Quarter, But Still in Negative Territory
Multifamily Developer Confidence Increases in Third Quarter, But Still in Negative Territory
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Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing increased year-over-year in the third quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released today by the National Association of Home Builders ...
Bedrooms in New Single-Family Homes in 2024
Bedrooms in New Single-Family Homes in 2024
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Three-bedroom single-family homes reached their largest share of starts since 2011 and remained the most prevalent number of bedrooms among new homes. The share of starts for four-bedroom homes declined ...
The International Builders’ Show: The Leading Economic Forecast Event of the Year 
The International Builders’ Show: The Leading Economic Forecast Event of the Year 
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Every year, NAHB and other industry experts and economists bring their latest insights to the NAHB International Builders’ Show® (IBS). For 2026, IBS offers an unparalleled lineup of IBS Education ...
Laundry Room Locations in New Homes and Apartments, 2024 
Laundry Room Locations in New Homes and Apartments, 2024 
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In 2024, most new single-family homes included laundry connections on the first floor (70%), according to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction. The first floor is also where most customers ...
Lowest Mortgage Rates in Over a Year in October 
Lowest Mortgage Rates in Over a Year in October 
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Average mortgage rates in October trended downward to the lowest rates in over a year. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.25% in October, 10 basis points ...
Which Local Markets Track National Trends the Most: 2024 Single-Family MAI
Which Local Markets Track National Trends the Most: 2024 Single-Family MAI
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The National Association of Home Builders developed the Single-Family Market Association Index (MAI) to measure how closely single-family building permits in metro areas follow national patterns. By comparing local and ...
The Fed Cuts amid Partly Cloudy Conditions
The Fed Cuts amid Partly Cloudy Conditions
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With the government shutdown limiting the quantity of economic data available to markets and policymakers, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) enacted a widely anticipated 25 basis point ...
Home Price Growth Slows
Home Price Growth Slows
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Home prices in August grew at the lowest annual rate in over two years, according to the recent release of the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (seasonally adjusted – ...
Two-Story Foyer Trend Stabilizes in 2024
Two-Story Foyer Trend Stabilizes in 2024
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In 2024, nearly a quarter of new homes were built with a two-story foyer, virtually unchanged from 2023, according to data obtained from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) ...
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In 2005, Congress established several energy-efficiency tax incentives related to housing that benefit new-home buyers and remodeling homeowners. These policies included the tax code section 25C credit for retrofitting/remodeling existing homes, and the 25D credit for the installation of power production property in new and...

Private residential construction spending declined 0.6% in January, as spending on single-family construction decreased 1.7%. It declined on the eighth month in a row amid elevated mortgage interest rates. Moreover, private residential construction is 3.9% lower compared to a year ago. The monthly decline is...

Residential construction loan volume reached a post-Great Recession high during the fourth quarter of 2022, as home building activity and new home sales remained below trend. Outstanding builder loan balances are rising as development debt is being held longer as new homes remain in inventory...

Seasonally adjusted home prices continued to fall in December and have declined for six consecutive months due to high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty. Locally, all 20 metro areas, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, experienced negative home price appreciation in December. The S&P CoreLogic...

Data from the Census Bureau’s latest Survey of Market Absorptions of New Multifamily Units (SOMA) indicates that the multifamily market continues to have high demand with apartment completions reaching their highest level since the third quarter of 2021. The absorption rate of new condominiums reached...

Declining mortgage rates and home prices in January, coupled with home builders use of sales incentives, helped boost new home sales last month. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated sales of newly built, single-family homes in January...

While the two main confidence indexes for multifamily housing increased slightly in the fourth quarter, they both remain in negative territory, according to results from the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The MMS produces two separate...

The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, such as townhouses, duplexes and other small multifamily properties. While townhouse construction has trended higher in recent quarters, the multifamily segment of the missing middle (apartments in 2- to 4-unit properties) has disappointed. For 2021,...

According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts remained elevated during the fourth quarter of 2022. For the fourth quarter, 133,000 multifamily residences started construction. For 2022 as whole, 525,000 rental apartments started construction. The market share of...

As elevated mortgage rates and tight inventory continue to weaken housing demand, the volume of existing home sales declined for a twelfth consecutive month as of January, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This is the longest run of declines since 1999. While...

An expected impact of the pandemic was a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. During the housing boom after covid, this led to a rise for new single-family home size. However, as the housing market weakens on...

NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building gained market share during 2022. There were 44,000 total custom building starts during the fourth quarter of the year. This marks a 10% decline compared...

NAHB analysis of the most recent Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing published by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that cash purchases made 11.2% of new home sales in the fourth quarter of 2022—the largest share since 1990. The share of cash purchases has climbed...

According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the fourth quarter of 2022, single-family attached starts totaled 37,000, which is 8% lower than the fourth quarter of 2021. Over the course of 2022, townhouse...

After four consecutive declines, the producer price index (PPI) for inputs to residential construction less energy (i.e. building materials) rose 0.9% in January 2023 (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest PPI report. Price growth of goods inputs to residential construction, including energy, gained 1.4%...

Single-family built-for-rent construction ended 2022 strong with a rising total market share. According to NAHB’s analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, there were approximately 17,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts during the fourth quarter of 2022. This...

During the fourth quarter of 2022, credit continued to become less available and generally more costly on loans for Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) according to NAHB’s Survey on AD&C Financing. To analyze credit availability, responses from the NAHB survey are used to construct a...

Due to elevated mortgage rates and high construction costs, overall housing starts decreased 4.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million units in January, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Although rising...

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