Housing & Construction

Prices are surging for the raw materials used to build American homes.

Construction input prices rose 2.1% in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data.

Over the first month of 2021, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 83,921.

There will continue to be demand for rental communities even as millennials age into prime home-buying years and the homeownership rate rises.

According to the February survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), first-time home buyers account for 43 percent of the new home market. 

Fannie Mae‘s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), a composite index designed to track the housing market and consumer confidence to sell or buy a home, fell 1.2 points in February. Fear not, experts say – better days are ahead.

The Associated Builders and Contractors Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.2 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted from Feb. 22 to March 3.

Today, Ivory Innovations announced the finalists for the 2021 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. 

“Framers are part of a brotherhood,” says Ben Courtney, a framer in central Missouri for the past ten years.

If any first-time home buyers were on the fence about taking a more traditional starter home path to homeownership in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic brought into focus the way they viewed homes and what they really wanted for a dream home.