With the cost of building materials jumping 25 percent year over year, according to the National Association of Home Builders' NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, builders are increasingly concerned about how this will affect home buyers in the new-construction market. In 2016, builders ranked the cost of building materials low on their list of concerns—but now it's one of their top five.The increased cost of lumber is a chief catalyst. "Neg
Sales of newly built, single-family homes increased 3.7 percent last month, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 555,000 units, the Commerce Department reports."We can expect further growth in new home sales throughout the year, spurred on by employment gains and a rise in household formations," says Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. "As the supply of existing homes remains tight, more consumers
Office construction is on the rise across the U.S., and 2017 is expected to be another mega year for the sector.Indeed, 2017 is expected to surpass office construction starts from 2016 by 10 percent – or 10 million more square feet than in 2016, according to Dodge Date & Analytics’ 2017 Dodge Construction Outlook. Dodge forecasters are predicting that this year the office sector will post the largest surge in starts than any other segment
Many markets are calling for greater new-home construction to meet buyer demand and counter housing shortages plaguing many areas. But the homebuilding industry is facing a big challenge in meeting that call: They can’t find enough skilled workers.The Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows that nearly 200,000 construction industry jobs are unfilled across the country, an increase of 81 percent in just two years.
Housing production nationwide edged up 11.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in December due to a surge in multifamily construction, the Commerce Department reported this week. Multifamily production – often viewed as volatile month-to-month – surged 57 percent to 431,000 units in December.Single-family starts, on the other hand, fell 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000 units. But builder sentiment remains high for
Open floor plans continue to reign. Eighty-four percent of builders say that in the typical single-family home they build, the kitchen and family room arrangement is at least partially open. Fifty-four percent say it’s completely open, according to responses from a September 2016 National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.“Completely open” essentially means the two areas are combined into the same room. Partially
Taylor Morrison is the most trusted among national home builders, according to the results from Lifestory Research America’s Most Trusted 2017 Home Builder Study. The study tracks more than 100 builder brands in the 35 largest U.S. housing markets, and collects the perceptions of trust in home-builder brands as expressed by more than 31,000 would-be buyers."When a brand attains the trust of people, the brand stands apart from all others," says
Construction of single-family homes is expected to gradually rise this year, as a growing economy, solid employment gains, and rising household formation buoys builders' forecasts.Last year, the National Association of Home Builders projected 1.16 million total housing starts in 2016, which was up nearly 5 percent from the previous year. Now NAHB is forecasting a 10 percent increase in single-family production for 2017 and a 12 percent rise for 2
The call for a greater number of entry-level homes may finally get answered in 2017. Inventories for entry-level homes has remained stubbornly low, greatly limiting the number of affordable homes to first-time home buyer.The number of available homes with less than 1,800 square feet has continued to decrease, reaching a new low of 16 percent, according to a recent report by Drew Reading, U.S. homebuilding analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.More bu
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