National Association of Home Builders Economic Research Blog

Lower Mortgage Rates Boost Refinancing While Purchase Activity Slows
Lower Mortgage Rates Boost Refinancing While Purchase Activity Slows
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Mortgage application activity increased month-over-month as the 30-year fixed mortgage rates reached a three-year low. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, ...
U.S. Economy Loses 92,000 Jobs in February
U.S. Economy Loses 92,000 Jobs in February
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The U.S. labor market weakened in February, as payroll employment declined and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. The cooling labor market could place the Federal Reserve in a challenging ...
Builders Identify Key Long-Term Forces Shaping Housing Demand and Industry Health
Builders Identify Key Long-Term Forces Shaping Housing Demand and Industry Health
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Home builders are keenly aware of the complex long-term outlook ahead for the home building industry. A recent NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI survey asked builders to assess the impact of 14 ...
Affordability Posts Mild Gains in Second Half of 2025 but Crisis Continues
Affordability Posts Mild Gains in Second Half of 2025 but Crisis Continues
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Though new and existing homes remain largely unaffordable, the needle moved slightly in the right direction in the second half of 2025, according to the latest data from the National ...
Mortgage Rates Dipped Below 6% in February Amid Treasury Rally
Mortgage Rates Dipped Below 6% in February Amid Treasury Rally
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Mortgage rates continued to decline in February, dipping below 6% in the last week of February. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.05% last month, 5 basis ...
House Price Appreciation by State and Metro Area: Fourth Quarter 2025
House Price Appreciation by State and Metro Area: Fourth Quarter 2025
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U.S. house prices continued to rise at the close of 2025, though the pace of growth has slowed compared with the rapid gains of previous years. Elevated mortgage rates, affordability ...
Multifamily Absorption Rate Remains Below 50%
Multifamily Absorption Rate Remains Below 50%
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The percentage of new apartment units that were absorbed within three months after completion was unchanged for new units completed in the second quarter, according to the Census Bureau’s latest ...
Private Residential Construction Spending Edges Higher in December
Private Residential Construction Spending Edges Higher in December
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Private residential construction spending was up 1.5% for the last month of 2025. This modest gain was driven primarily by increased spending on home improvements and single-family construction. Despite this ...
2024 Home Improvement Loan Applications: A State- and County-Level Analysis
2024 Home Improvement Loan Applications: A State- and County-Level Analysis
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Residential improvement activity remained solid in 2024, though growth has moderated from the surge seen in 2022. The market continues to be supported by an aging housing stock, elevated homeowner ...
Gains for Student Housing Construction in the Last Quarter of 2025 
Gains for Student Housing Construction in the Last Quarter of 2025 
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Private fixed investment for student dormitories was up 1.5% in the last quarter of 2025, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $3.9 billion. This gain followed three consecutive quarterly declines before rebounding in the final two quarters of the year. The elevated interest rates continued to weigh on student housing construction. Despite ...
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According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts surged during the second quarter of 2022. At 142,000 units started, this was the largest quarter for rental multifamily construction since the second quarter of 1986. The market share of...

An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. During the housing boom of recent quarters, this led to a rise for new single-family home size. However, as the housing market...

As elevated mortgage rates and higher home prices weighed on housing affordability, existing home sales declined for six consecutive months, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). All four regions saw double-digit decline in sales from a year ago. But home price appreciation has...

Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing was mixed in the second quarter of 2022, according to results from the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index...

NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building registered relatively flat conditions for the second quarter of 2022. There were 53,000 total custom building starts during the second quarter of the year. This...

According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the second quarter of 2022 single-family attached starts totaled 38,000, which is 9.5% lower than the second quarter of 2021. Nonetheless, over the last four quarters,...

Single-family built-for-rent sector construction surged during the second quarter of 2022 as homebuying affordability declined on higher mortgage interest rates. According to NAHB’s analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, there were approximately 21,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR)...

A sharp decline in single-family home construction is another indicator that the housing slowdown is showing no signs of abating, as rising construction costs, elevated mortgage rates and supply chain disruptions continue to act as a drag on the market. Overall housing starts fell 9.6%...

Builder confidence fell for the eighth straight month in August as elevated interest rates, ongoing supply chain problems and high home prices continue to exacerbate housing affordability challenges. In another sign that a declining housing market has failed to bottom out, builder confidence in the...

The prices of building materials rose 0.4% in July (not seasonally adjusted) even as softwood lumber prices increased 2.3%, according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report. Prices have surged 35.7% since January 2020, although 80% of the increase has occurred since January 2021....

Over the first six months of 2022, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 567,798. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 3.6% decline over the June 2021 level of 589,146. Year-to-date ending in June, single-family permits declined in all...

During the second quarter of 2022, credit became both tighter and more costly on loans for Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) according to NAHB’s Survey on AD&C Financing. The average effective rate (based on rate of return to the lender over the assumed life of...

Rising mortgage rates, high inflation, low existing inventory and elevated home prices contributed to housing affordability falling to its lowest point since the Great Recession in the second quarter of 2022. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI),...

Per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) survey through the week ending August 5th, total mortgage activity increased slightly and the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rate rose four basis points to 5.47%. The FRM rate has declined 35 bps over the past month but remains...

Consumer prices eased slightly from a 40-year high in July as declines in energy prices offset increases in food and shelter indexes. Despite this improvement, inflation remains above an 8% rate for a fifth straight month. The food index recorded its largest annual gain since...

According to NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC), new single-family starts expanded at a fast pace in 2021. Nationally, 1,133,145 new single-family units were started in 2021, 14% higher than the units started in 2020. It marked the fastest growth rate since 2013...

The construction labor market is cooling off as economic activity slows in response to tighter monetary policy per the latest job openings data. Given the Fed’s dual mandate of fighting inflation and maintaining maximum employment, macro price and jobs data are key to informing the...

Job growth accelerated in July amid higher inflation and growing economic pressures. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 528,000, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5% in July. Construction industry employment (both residential and non-residential) totaled 7.7 million and has exceeded its February 2020...

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