National Association of Home Builders Economic Research Blog

Count of Second Homes Declines in 2024
Count of Second Homes Declines in 2024
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In 2024, the number of second homes in the U.S. was 6.2 million, accounting for 4.3% of the nation’s housing stock, according to NAHB estimates. This reflects a modest decline ...
Young Adults Report More Interest in the Construction Trades: 2026 Survey
Young Adults Report More Interest in the Construction Trades: 2026 Survey
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NAHB estimates the U.S. has a structural housing deficit of 1.2 million units. Among the myriad of headwinds home builders face trying to close that gap is the industry’s chronic ...
Builder Sentiment Posts Notable Decline on Economic Uncertainty
Builder Sentiment Posts Notable Decline on Economic Uncertainty
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Economic uncertainty coupled with rising building material costs and interest rates resulted in a sharp decline in builder sentiment in April as the housing market enters into the heart of ...
Higher Energy Prices Increase Residential Construction Costs
Higher Energy Prices Increase Residential Construction Costs
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Energy input prices increased in March at their fastest pace since June of 2020 as the conflict in Iran shocked critical global supply chains. Building material prices, excluding energy, rose ...
Single-Family Permits Decline Sharply to Start 2026
Single-Family Permits Decline Sharply to Start 2026
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Residential construction activity began 2026 on a mixed note, with single-family permitting weakening significantly while multifamily activity remained relatively stable. Higher borrowing costs and affordability constraints continue to weigh on ...
Existing Home Sales Fell in March
Existing Home Sales Fell in March
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Existing home sales fell to a nine-month low in March as tight inventory, rising mortgage rates and growing concerns about the job market constrained sales activity. While inventory has improved ...
2025 Regional and State-Level GDP Data
2025 Regional and State-Level GDP Data
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In 2025, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded nationally, with growth recorded across all states and the District of Columbia. The increase ...
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The latest results from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States, i.e., the Flow of Funds, show that in 2021, the aggregate market value of all owner-occupied real estate in the United States experienced the largest quarterly increases on record. From $36.8...

Consumer prices continued to break 40-year highs in February due to higher food, gasoline and housing costs. This was the largest year-over-year gain since January 1982. This pace of inflation will likely stay high in the months ahead as Russia-Ukraine crisis continues drive up oil...

In the past month, total mortgage activity, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, underwent a series of weekly declines, but increased in the latest week by 8.5 percent. The latest week’s survey is for the week ending March 4. The...

The construction labor market remains tight, as the industry sees a rising number of job openings year-over-year. The count of open construction jobs increased for the month to 380,000 unfilled positions in January. The highest measure in the history of the data series (going back...

Per the latest results of NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), single-family home building showed higher growth rates across all regional submarkets in the fourth quarter of 2021, relative to the fourth quarter of 2020. Quarterly growth, however, trended downwards for all regions in the...

New NAHB 2022 Priced-Out Estimates showed that 87.5 million households are not able to afford a median priced new home, and that additional 117,932 households would be priced out of the new home market if the price goes up by $1,000. This post presents how...

Job growth accelerated in February with widespread gains across industries. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 678,000 in February, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.8%. Construction industry employment (both residential and non-residential) totaled 7.6 million. Residential construction gained 31,000 jobs, while non-residential construction...

NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1.3% in January after an increase of 2.2% in December 2021. Spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $829.4 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 13.4% higher...

Residential construction loan volume reached a post-Great Recession high during the fourth quarter of 2021, as home building activity posted gains for the year. The volume of 1-4 unit residential construction loans made by FDIC-insured institutions increased 1% during the fourth quarter. The volume of...

Per NAHB’s latest Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), through the second half of 2021, multifamily home building rebounded from quarterly declines that began at the outset of the pandemic. In the wake of the public health crisis, there was a pronounced return to higher density...

Data from the Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments (SOMA), produced by the Census Bureau, suggest continued improvement for the multifamily sector in the third quarter of 2021 due to strong demand and low vacancy rates. The absorption rate of unfurnished, unsubsidized apartments (the share...

The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, including 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,...

Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing improved in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the latest results from NAHB’s Multifamily Market Survey (MMS). The MMS produces two main indices. In the fourth quarter, the Multifamily Production Index (MPI) increased one point to...

New single-family home sales posted a small decline in January as housing demand was affected by a jump in mortgage rates. The January pace of sales was nonetheless solid due to a lack of resale inventory and ongoing need for new construction. The U.S. Department...

According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts increased to 94.2% during the fourth quarter of 2021. In contrast, the historical low share of 47% was set during the third quarter of 2005, during the...

National home prices grew at an unsustainable pace in December, supported by strong demand and record-low inventory. Home price appreciation is expected to slow in the coming quarters as rising mortgage rates price some homebuyers out of the market. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National...

An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Recent data confirms this impact on the market continues to occur. According to fourth quarter 2021 data from the Census Quarterly Starts...

NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building expanded by 10.8% in 2021 amid strong demand for move-up purchases given a rise in existing home equity. There were 49,000 total custom building starts...

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