An expected impact of the virus crisis was a need for more residential space, as people used homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022 and 2023, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended…

Townhouse construction expanded more than 2 percent on a year-over-year basis per data from the first quarter of 2025. According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the first quarter of 2025, single-family attached starts totaled 43,000. Over the last four quarters, townhouse construction starts totaled…

Single-family built-for-rent construction posted flat growth on a year-over-year basis, as a higher cost of financing crowded out development activity. According to NAHB’s analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, there were approximately 19,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts during the first quarter of 2025. This is flat relative…

NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates flat year-over year growth for custom home builders. The custom building market is less sensitive to the interest rate cycle than other forms of home building but is more sensitive to changes in household wealth and stock prices. There were…

Economic uncertainty stemming from tariff issues, elevated mortgage rates and rising building material costs pushed single-family housing starts lower in April. Overall housing starts increased 1.6% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census…

The cost of credit for residential Land Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) eased in the first quarter of 2025, according to NAHB’s survey on AD&C Financing. During the quarter, the average contract interest rate declined on three of the four categories of loans tracked in the NAHB survey: from 8.48% in 2024 Q4 to 8.23%…

Builder confidence fell sharply in May on growing uncertainties stemming from elevated interest rates, tariff concerns, building material cost uncertainty and the cloudy economic outlook. However, 90% of the responses received in May were tabulated prior to the May 12 announcement that the United States and China agreed to slash tariffs for 90 days to…

Permits continue a downhill trend for the third month in a row. Over the first three months of 2025, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 232,221. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a decline of 3.8% over the March 2024 level of 241311. For multifamily, the total number of…

Overall demand for residential mortgages was weaker while lending standards for most types of residential mortgages were essentially unchanged according to the Federal Reserve Board’s April 2025 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS).  For commercial real estate (CRE) loans, lending standards for construction & development were moderately tighter, while demand was modestly weaker.  However, for multifamily loans within…

Inflation slowed to a 4-year low in April while shelter inflation remained elevated. Despite the easing, inflation may pick up in the coming months as possible inflationary pressure from enacted tariffs and other policy uncertainties continues to threaten economic growth and complicate the Fed’s path to its 2% target. Meanwhile, housing inflation remains elevated, but it…