Townhouse construction is outperforming other building sectors, a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders shows. In the third quarter of this year, townhouses accounted for 33,000 residential construction starts compared to 27,000 in the second quarter of 2017. Construction of townhomes is 24 percent higher than the prior four quarters.Builders expect demand to grow. “Townhouse construction is set for further expansion given
The rise of housing affordability concerns is sparking a slowdown in new-home construction. Single-family housing starts fell 1.8 percent in October compared to the previous month, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday."This month's decrease in single-family starts isn't a surprise given the drop in our builder confidence index," says Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. "Builders are showing caution as mount
The last few years, the home improvement business has been booming as more homeowners look to spruce up their homes. But are owners getting too confident that they can do it all themselves? “Costs, pop culture, and perhaps overconfidence could be driving DIY culture,” according to a new study from NerdWallet, a personal finance website.NerdWallet’s 2018 Home Improvement Report found that younger generations are particularly gung-ho about
Sales of newly built homes dropped for the fourth consecutive month, while new construction inventory reached the highest level in years, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Sales of new single-family homes dropped 5.5 percent last month, the slowest pace since December 2016.“New-home sales activity has slowed this summer as housing affordability remains a serious issue,” says Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of H
The housing market may be in search of much-needed inventory, but it’s not likely to come from new home construction. Builders broke ground on fewer homes in September. Housing starts dropped 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2 million, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.Broken out, single-family housing starts dropped 0.9 percent to 871,000 units, while multifamily starts—those for apartment buildings and condos
Panic rooms are growing more common in New York’s Hamptons, as luxury homeowners rush to add these bulletproof fortresses into their homes. Residents in the area fear infiltration from the Salvadoran gang MS-13 after the chilling murder in April of four young men behind a soccer field in Central Islip and other recent incidents in the area. Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skynecki publicly confirmed these fears last year; the news has pr
Homebuilding giant Lennar is reportedly looking to sell its real estate lending arm, Rialto Capital, as builders continue to face a stagnant housing market, The Wall Street Journal reports.Lennar has declined to comment publicly on the recent news reports, but in an investor call last week and in April it did confirm it was considering selling Rialto as part of the company’s strategy of spinning off or selling its subsidiaries. The sale cou
Homebuilders have been pointing to a severe labor shortage of contractors that are prompting project delays and new-home prices to rise. Could they turn to robots to make up for the shortage of workers?Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute is showing off a humanoid bot called HRP-5P that can complete several construction tasks, such as installing drywall by hoisting up boards and fastening them in with a screwdriver. The
Amazon is partnering with homebuilders to bring its Alexa voice assistant to more new housing units as a standard smart-home feature. The online retailer recently announced it has partnered with Plant Prefab, a California-based company that uses sustainable materials to build prefabricated single-family and multifamily homes. The move comes after Amazon introduced more than a dozen Alexa-controlled smart-home devices, including a microwave oven a
Sales of newly built single-family homes eked out an increase in August, but not enough to impress economists or make up for big shortfalls in housing. Sales for new homes increased 3.5 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000 units, but the uptick was off of significantly revised downwardly reports from June and July, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The revised reports indicate a soft patch overall in ne
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