Eye On Housing
Much like last year, the price and availability of building materials topped the list of problems builders face. According to special questions on the December 2021 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, building material prices were a significant issue for 96% of builders in 2021, and 91% of the builders expect it to continue being a problem in… Read More ›
The prices of goods used in residential construction ex-energy climbed 1.5% in December (not seasonally adjusted), according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index was driven higher by large price increases for wood products. Building materials prices increased 15.9% in 2021 and have risen 18.6% since December 2020. Since declining 1.8% between July… Read More ›
The prices of goods used in residential construction ex-energy climbed 1.8% in November (not seasonally adjusted), according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The monthly increase was driven by price increases in nearly every product category. Building materials prices have increased 14.1% year-to-date, more than tripling the November YTD increase of… Read More ›
Prices paid for goods used in residential construction ex-energy decreased 0.8% in September (not seasonally adjusted), according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The decrease was largely driven by lower lumber and concrete products prices and was the second monthly decline since the start of the last recession. The price index of… Read More ›
Prices paid for goods used in residential construction ex-energy rose 0.2% in July after climbing 3.0% in June (not seasonally adjusted), according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building materials (i.e., inputs to residential construction less food and energy) prices have declined just twice since December 2019 and have increased 19.4% over the… Read More ›
According to the data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), stucco was the most common principal exterior material on new single-family homes started in 2020 (28 percent), followed by Vinyl siding (26 percent), fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or Hardiboard (21 percent), brick or brick veneer (19 percent). Far smaller shares of single-family homes started last year had wood… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s latest estimates, changes in prices for softwood lumber products that occurred between April 17, 2020 and July 08, 2021 are enough to add $29,833 to the price of an average new single-family home, and $9,990 to the market value of an average new multifamily home. The increase in multifamily value, in turn, translates to households paying $92… Read More ›
Framing lumber prices garnered more attention than any other building material over the past year as prices quadrupled between April 2020 and May 2021. But even as lumber prices decline, the spotlight on lumber continues to crowd out the story of meteoric price increases of another wood product integral to the integrity of a building’s structure—oriented strand board (OSB). The… Read More ›
Lumber futures prices have decreased by 52 percent (on a front-month basis) over the past seven weeks as mill prices have fallen 48 percent over the same period.[1] In contrast, prices paid by builders since late May have declined by a fraction of that impact. The disconnect—which has always existed—is inherent to the lumber supply chain and choices that must… Read More ›
Recent posts have discussed how builders are facing widespread shortages of many building materials, and how materials prices for the same house have increased by 26 percent over the past year. Results from a follow-on NAHB survey show that builders have reacted to the shortages in a variety of ways, most commonly by raising the prices of their homes and… Read More ›