Tag Archive for ‘construction’

Custom Home Building Share Declines Slightly

According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), custom homes accounted for 17.6 percent of new single-family homes started—down slightly from the 17.8 percent recorded in 2020 and the lowest the annual custom home share has been since the 2005 re-design of the SOC.  The custom home market consists of contractor-built and owner-built houses—homes built one at… Read More ›

Stucco and Vinyl were the Most Common Siding Materials on New Homes in 2021

According to the annual data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), stucco was the most common principal siding material on new single-family homes started in 2021 (28 percent),  followed by vinyl siding (24 percent), fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or Hardiboard (23 percent) and, brick or brick veneer (19 percent). Far smaller shares of single-family homes started last year… Read More ›

Two-Thirds of Homes Started in 2020 are in Community Associations

According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), 67.1 percent of single-family homes started in 2020 were built within a community or homeowner’s association. This is a record high for the association percentage since the re-design of the SOC in 2009. The Census Bureau defines community or homeowner’s associations as “formal legal entities created to maintain common… Read More ›

Most Common Exteriors On New Homes are Stucco and Vinyl in 2020

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 ›

New Home Prices Squeeze Buyers Out at the Low End

Recent Census data, combined with NAHB survey results, illustrate the way in which home buyers in the lower one-fourth of the market have been squeezed entirely out of the market for new construction, and forced to look exclusively in the stock of existing homes—where the inventory of homes available for sale remains in a historically low range (at a 2.5-month… Read More ›

Nearly 90 Percent of Builders Have Trouble Getting Appliances

In the survey results described in one of last week’s posts, prices of building material ranked as the number one problem among NAHB’s single-family builders, and availability of building materials ranked second.  These concerns are not surprising, given the surge in building material prices reported in the latest Producer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Traditionally, when… Read More ›

Top Products Used in New Residential Construction

In a recent article, NAHB analysis of government data found that new single-family and multifamily construction used a total of roughly $94.93 billion in building products in 2019.  Although the vast majority of the $94.93 billion was produced domestically, supporting jobs in the U.S. manufacturing sector, about 6.4 percent ($6.12 billion) was imported from other countries.  It may seem a… Read More ›

Initial and Continuing Claims Decline

Weekly initial jobless claims decreased in the week ending August 1 after two weeks of increases. Continuing claims, which lags initial jobless claims by one week, dropped by 844,000 in the week ending July 25. Although jobless claims remain at historically high levels, the decreases in initial jobless claims and continuing claims indicate that labor market is recovering gradually from… Read More ›

Jobless Claims Soar Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak

The U.S. Department of Labor released Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report this morning. Surprising but expected, the weekly initial claims on unemployment insurance surged in the week ending March 21 due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. In the week ending March 21, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits, known as jobless claims, soared to a… Read More ›