More Americans are desiring bigger homes since the pandemic—and builders are responding. The share of new single-family homes with four or more bedrooms posted a sharp uptick, unlike in recent years, the National Association of Home Builders reports on its Eye on Housing blog.The share of single-family homes started with four bedrooms or more rose from 42.6% in 2019 to 45.2% in 2020.“These developments are linked to changes in the makeup of h
New-home sales rose in August, even as buyers continued to weather high home prices. Higher development costs and material prices have put pressure on new-home prices, which are 20% higher than a year ago. The median sales price was $390,900 in August, the Commerce Department reported Friday.“These price hikes are a risk for housing affordability as we approach the end of the year,” says Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Associati
Another green hue has been selected as the hottest color for the new year. Sherwin-Williams announced its 2022 color of the year: evergreen fog, an earthy gray-green tone.The paint firm’s announcement comes on the heels of two other paint companies that this year chose gray-green shades as their 2022 leading color picks. PPG chose olive sprig, while Behr selected breezeway.Sherwin-Williams says evergreen fog is a calming color with nods to natu
Multifamily units are driving the gains in overall housing starts last month as more apartment projects were initiated. But single-family housing starts fell 2.8% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.076 million units, their second consecutive month of decline, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. While single-family starts dropped in the West and Midwest, they still rose in the Northeast and South.“There is certainly a hous
When you hear “prefab,” you may think double-wide mobile home. It’s a misconception the industry has long been trying to clear up.Prefab, a type of construction method, can be found at the luxury home level. More prefab options are stretching into the high-end market, combining quicker construction timelines with ultra-luxury touches.Prefab homes are built offsite in a factory, delivered to a home site, and assembled faster than a trad
Even though builders have been saddled with higher material costs and labor and lot woes, home building has been on the rise over the past year. Single-family permits, a gauge measuring future construction, have jumped about 30% from July 2020 to July of this year. The permits have increased in all four major regions of the U.S., led by the Northeast and the South, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis posted on its E
A recent decline in lumber prices is helping to mitigate building costs, but that effect is being offset by numerous increases in other building materials that are surpassing records. Home building materials have climbed by up to 19% over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index.The building materials that have seen the largest increases so far in 2021, according to the National Association of Home Buil
Paradise, Calif., faced the deadly and destructive 2018 Camp Fire, and officials want to make sure history never repeats itself. To that end, officials are buying up properties that are most at risk for wildfires to protect future homeowners and the town by turning these purchased properties into fire-resistant green spaces, NPR reports.The 2018 Camp Fire wiped out a large section of Paradise, marking one of the deadliest and destructive wildfire
Prices for building materials have climbed 19.4% over the last 12 months, increasing 13% in 2021 alone, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.Buyers are seeing the results in the prices of new homes. The median sales price for a new home was $361,800 in June, up 6% compared to a year earlier.Steel mill product prices increased 10.8% in July following a 6.2% increase in June. Prices have increased 108.6% over the past year and 87.6% in 2021
Sales of newly built single-family homes continued to decline in June as some builders slowed sales contracts to manage supply-chain challenges and more potential buyers became priced out. Homebuilding timelines are stretching longer and higher construction costs are frustrating buyers.Sales of new single-family homes fell to the lowest level since the first month of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. in early June. Sales dropped 6
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