National Association of Home Builders Economic Research Blog

Lower Rates Lift Mortgage Activity at Start of the Year
Lower Rates Lift Mortgage Activity at Start of the Year
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Mortgage application activity rose sharply in January, driven primarily by a surge in refinancing activity as mortgage rates declined to a new low. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite ...
The Size of the Housing Shortage: 2024 Data
The Size of the Housing Shortage: 2024 Data
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Persistently low homeowner and rental vacancy rates indicate that the U.S. housing market remains structurally undersupplied. Comparing 2024 abnormally low vacancy rates with long-run equilibrium levels across U.S. metropolitan markets, ...
Job Openings Fall as Labor Market Weakens
Job Openings Fall as Labor Market Weakens
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Running counter to the data for the full economy, the count of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry increased in December, per the delayed Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings ...
Builders’ Top Challenges for 2026
Builders’ Top Challenges for 2026
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The most significant challenge builders faced in 2025 was high interest rates, as reported by 84% of builders in the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey.  A smaller, albeit still ...
Mortgage Rates Declined Despite Higher Treasury Yields
Mortgage Rates Declined Despite Higher Treasury Yields
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Long-term mortgage rates continued to decline in January. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.10% last month, 9 basis points (bps) lower than December. Meanwhile, the 15-year ...
Homeownership Rate Inches Up to 65.7%
Homeownership Rate Inches Up to 65.7%
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The latest homeownership rate rose to 65.7% in the last quarter of 2025, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). While this was a modest quarterly increase, the broader ...
U.S. Population Growth Slows in 2025
U.S. Population Growth Slows in 2025
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According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimates, the U.S. resident population grew by 1,781,060 to a total population of 341,784,857. The population grew at a rate of 0.5%, a ...
Bathroom Remodeling Is Most Common Project in 2025
Bathroom Remodeling Is Most Common Project in 2025
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Every quarter, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducts a survey of professional remodelers. The first part of the survey collects the information required to produce the NAHB/Westlake Royal ...
Saving Rate Falls to 3.5% in November
Saving Rate Falls to 3.5% in November
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Personal income rose 0.3% in November 2025, following a 0.1% increase in October, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gains were largely driven by higher ...
Holding Pattern for the Fed
Holding Pattern for the Fed
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The Fed paused its easing cycle at the conclusion of the January meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank’s monetary policy body. The Fed held the short-term ...
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A national survey of 271 jurisdictions conducted by Duncan Associates in 2012 reveals wide cross-country differences in impact fees that individual jurisdictions charge. The map below presents state averages for standardized single-family units (three-bedroom, 2,000 square-foot units, at density of 4 units per acre and...

Trying to fill the void that was created in 2001 when the Residential Finance Survey (RFS) was discontinued, the US Census Bureau started collecting data on financial, physical and other characteristics of multifamily rental housing properties through its newly designed Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS)....

Loan limits for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) were scheduled to fall in 2014 due to the expiration of increased limits set during the housing crisis. However, the magnitude of change for the published limits has caught many by surprise. Stimulus legislation...

A new research paper from NAHB Economics investigates how immigrants affect US housing demand. The study analyzes recent data from the American Community Survey (ACS) that has detailed information on the country of origin, age, family status and housing choices of newly arrived immigrants. The...

Professionals in the housing industry know that demography and housing are closely related. The total number of households and their respective forms are fundamental drivers of housing demand. With this in mind, we thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at the...

The homebuyer tax credit program is in the past for the housing industry. But we can begin to take a look back at the impact of the program using Internal Revenue Service data from 2009 to map where the tax credit was claimed by homebuyers....

As we enter into the last week of the 2010 tax filing season, it is a good time to look at some basic statistics concerning how construction firms, including home builders, organize for tax purposes and how much revenue they pay to the federal government....

The Government Accountability Office has released a report tallying the number of homebuyers benefitting from the homebuyer tax credit. The numbers are still incomplete as the IRS continues to process submitted claims. Further, some homebuyers will not claim the credit until the end of the...

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