Eye On Housing
According to the latest Producer Price Index report, the price level of inputs to residential construction less energy (i.e., building materials) edged up 0.2% in July (not seasonally adjusted). Building materials price growth has slowed considerably in 2023 with an average monthly increase of 0.2%–down from 0.7% in 2022 and 1.5% in 2021. Not since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic has… Read More ›
In the second quarter of 2021, residential construction continued to shift toward the suburbs and lower-cost markets, and this trend is especially pronounced within the multifamily sector, according to the latest Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). During this period, multifamily construction posted double-digit percentage gains in small metro core and suburban areas, while large metro areas experienced a decrease for… Read More ›
The topic of diversity, and its relationship to homeownership and home building, carries significant implications for policy making, social justice, and equity. In addition to the usual regional classification, NAHB’s Q4 2020 Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) provides a segmentation of the housing market based on county-level measurements of racial and ethnic heterogeneity. For this purpose, we use ESRI’s1 2018… Read More ›
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 ›
The new NAHB study presents the most recent and comprehensive estimates of home building employment, including self-employed workers, by state. NAHB Economics estimates that out of 9.8 million people working in construction in 2016, more than 3.8 million people worked in residential construction, accounting for 2.5% of the US employed civilian labor force. These numbers reflect modest but steady job… Read More ›
In 2014, there were 1.7 million one-person firms in specialty trade contracting (carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc.), 582,000 in residential building construction (e.g., home builders and remodelers), and 11,000 in land subdivision (developers of residential lots). These numbers come from the latest U.S. Census Bureau’s Nonemployer Statistics, which define a nonemployer as a business with no-paid employees, which means essentially that… Read More ›
Spurred by a modest reduction in mortgage interest rates and favorable home prices, nationwide housing affordability in the first quarter of 2016 posted a slight increase, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 65.0 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of January and end of March were affordable… Read More ›
A majority of home buyers across all generations, whether Millennials, Gen X’ers, Boomers, or Seniors, want to buy a single-family detached home and most want to see the laundry equipment on the first floor. A majority of the oldest two cohorts also prefer single-story homes. These findings come from the latest NAHB study on housing preferences, Housing Preferences of the… Read More ›
Based on the recently released 2012 Economic Census data, new NAHB research shows that residential construction remains the industry of independent entrepreneurs with 81 percent of homebuilders and specialty trade contractors being self-employed independent contractors. Even among establishments with paid employees, the industry is dominated by small businesses, with two-thirds of homebuilders and three out of four specialty trade contractors… Read More ›
Every month, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) provides an overall measure of builder confidence in the strength of the single-family housing market. Also every month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces estimates of employment in residential construction (or at least it has since 2001, when it began to split jobs in the various trades into residential… Read More ›