36+Research pieces indexed
Latest Aug 14, 2026
Global Real Estate Intelligence is a neutral index of publicly available research. All rights in NAHB — Eye on Housing’s work remain with NAHB — Eye on Housing; we link to the original.
Single-family permitting activity continued to weaken through the first half of 2026, while multifamily permitting remained somewhat stronger compared with the same period last year. Over the first six months of the year, the number of single-family permits issued nationwide reached 465,301. Compared with the same…
The latest homeownership rate declined to 65% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). The homeownership rate was unchanged from a year ago, and not statistically different than the rate in the first quarter of the year (65.3%). While this was a modest quarterly…
Credit conditions on loans for residential Land Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) were still tightening in the second quarter of 2026, according to NAHB’s quarterly survey on AD&C Financing. The net easing index derived from the survey posted a second-quarter reading of -12.0 (the negative number…
Residential building material prices, excluding energy, rose 0.4% in July and were up 5.0% from a year ago. Energy prices fell again in July but remained significantly higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, prices for services were down 0.3% over the month but were 6.2% higher than a year ago. The Producer Price Index…
Led by declines in gasoline and diesel prices, inflation eased for the second consecutive month after reaching a three-year high in May. As energy prices moderated, shelter resumed its role as the largest driver of headline inflation, accounting for one-third of the annual increase and over two-thirds of the…
Mortgage application activity slowed in July amid continuation of the war in Iran. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, declined 6.6% month-over-month in July on a seasonally adjusted basis. Compared to a year ago, total mortgage…
Demand for all types of residential mortgages was weaker, while lending standards for most were essentially unchanged in the second quarter of 2026, according to the recent release of the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS). For commercial real estate (CRE) loans, lending standards for construction &…
Existing home sales continued to slow in July as record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates weighed on buyers. Mortgage rates resumed an upward trend after the ceasefire ended in early July. Heightened geopolitical uncertainty and an increasingly hawkish stance from the Fed pushed rates to nearly 6.7% last…
Wage growth for residential building workers continued to lose momentum in the second quarter of 2026, reflecting softer housing construction activity and weaker labor demand. According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, both nominal and inflation-adjusted wages have weakened further,…
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has released its State Projections of Remodeling (SPR) for the first quarter of 2026. As a reminder, the SPR provides on a quarterly basis a state-level estimation of the market share and total dollar value of remodeling spending. The SPR is a statistical model…
The U.S. labor market weakened in July, with nonfarm payrolls down 23,000 and downward revisions cutting another 103,000 jobs from May and June. Although the unemployment rate edged lower to 4.1%, the decline reflected a smaller labor force rather than stronger hiring, as overall participation fell to its lowest…
Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing weakened year-over-year in the second quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) had a reading of 43, down three…
Real GDP growth slowed in the second quarter of 2026, as a pullback in government spending and slower growth in investment and exports, more than offset stronger consumer spending. Business investment continued to support growth, particularly through equipment and intellectual property products, while imports…
The number of open positions in the construction sector increased in June, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The current level of open jobs is down measurably from three years ago due to declines in construction activity, particularly in housing. Recent gains for…
Private residential construction spending declined 0.3% in June, while substantial downward revisions to improvement (remodeling) spending significantly altered the sector’s recent trajectory. According to the latest construction spending data from the U.S. Census Bureau, private residential construction spending…
Housing’s share of the economy was 15.8% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the latest estimates of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This share is down from 15.9% in the first quarter and is at the lowest level since 2019. Residential construction, measured by residential fixed investment,…
An earlier post described how the top ten builders in the country accounted for 43.6% of new single-family closings in 2025. BUILDER magazine has now released additional data on the top ten builders within each of the 50 largest new home markets in the U.S., ranked by single-family permits. It is important to note…
After reaching a three-year high last month, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge eased in June following declines in energy prices amid a temporary truce with Iran. This marked the first monthly decline in six years. However, the resumption of conflict and a rebound in oil prices have reignited…
Following a multi-year run of record highs, the national median lot value for single-family detached spec homes largely stabilized in 2025. According to NAHB’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), the U.S. median lot value for homes started in 2025 was $59,000, compared with $60,000 a year…
The housing market has changed greatly since the COVID-19 pandemic, along with consumer spending behaviors. During this period, housing demand surged, home prices appreciated rapidly, inflation increased, supply-chain disruptions happened, and mortgage rates moved from historic lows to elevated levels. These…
Following the highest number of multifamily completions in nearly 40 years in 2024, completions declined in 2025 to 484,000, according to NAHB analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction. For the ninth consecutive year, a majority of new multifamily units were in buildings with 50 or more units (labeled…
Affordability challenges continued to weigh on the new-home market in June, as elevated mortgage rates, rising inflation and broader economic uncertainty kept many prospective buyers on the sidelines. Sales of newly built single-family home rose 1.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000, up from…
At the start of 2026, most home builders predicted that high mortgage rates and hesitancy among buyers would be their toughest challenges this year. They weren’t wrong: the 30-year mortgage rate averaged 6.49% in June and housing demand has weakened, as reflected by flat mortgage applications in the first half of…
State labor market conditions softened in June as hiring slowed across much of the country. While a majority of states recorded payroll employment gains during the month, national job growth moderated and employment declines remained widespread in several states. Construction employment continued to expand…
The long-term shift toward building single-family detached homes on smaller lots appears to have stabilized. According to the latest Survey of Construction (SOC), the share of new homes built on smaller lots remained near record highs in 2025, following more than a decade of steadily shrinking lot sizes. While the…
Vinyl siding was the most used principle exterior wall material for homes started construction in 2025. This material held just over a quarter share of homes, surpassing stucco for the second time since 2018. The declining share for stucco reflected the slowdown for home building in parts of the Sun Belt. For homes…
This is a data-driven news report published by the National Association of Home Builders' Eye on Housing in July 2026 covering national housing starts, noting that multifamily residential construction gains offset a decline in single-family starts. The item addresses trends across the multifamily and homebuilding sectors at the national level.
This is a report published by NAHB's Eye on Housing in July 2026 examining builder sentiment at the national level, with a focus on homebuilders and economic conditions, particularly regarding affordability concerns.
This is an economic update published by NAHB's Eye on Housing in July 2026 covering building material price trends on national markets, noting that material costs continued to increase despite declining energy prices.
This is a data-focused report published by the National Association of Home Builders in July 2026 presenting permitting figures for single-family residential construction through May 2026 at the national level. The report indicates that single-family permitting activity showed continued weakness during the measurement period.
Inflation slowed to 3.5% in June 2026 from 4.2% in May, driven primarily by a mid-June ceasefire agreement that stabilized oil markets and reduced energy prices, with gasoline prices falling 9.7% and the shelter index posting its smallest monthly increase since January 2021. The document notes that the relief was short-lived as the ceasefire collapsed in early July, pushing oil prices up 12% and renewing inflation concerns, while core CPI excluding food and energy rose 2.6% year-over-year in June.
The share of new single-family homes with two or more stories declined from 52.5% in 2024 to 51.4% in 2025 according to Census Bureau data, while single-story homes rose from 47.5% to 48.6%. Regional variations showed the Midwest and South favoring single-story construction while the Northeast and West maintained higher shares of multi-story homes, with three-or-more-story homes comprising 5.2% of new homes nationally in 2025.
According to NAHB analysis of the 2025 Survey of Construction, new single-family housing starts nationwide totaled 939,182 units, representing a 6.9% decline compared to 2024, with the South Atlantic division leading at 308,189 starts followed by West South Central at 171,247 starts. Only three of nine Census divisions posted year-over-year growth—East South Central rising 13.7%, East North Central up 8.0%, and Middle Atlantic up 4.0%—while the remaining six divisions declined, with New England experiencing the steepest drop at 26.3%.
In the second quarter of 2026, the NAHB Remodeling Market Index posted a reading of 61, down one point from the previous quarter, with the Current Conditions Index averaging 70 and the Future Indicators Index averaging 52. Remodelers reported strong sentiment supported by homeowners' record real estate asset gains and mortgage rate incentives to remodel rather than purchase, though 74% of remodelers noted suppliers increased material prices by an average of 6.7% since March due to higher fuel costs and economic uncertainty.
Existing home sales fell 2.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units in June 2026, pulled back by record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates around 6.5%, though year-over-year sales were up 2.8%. The median existing home price reached an all-time high of $440,600 (up 1.8% annually), inventory stood at 4.6 months' supply, and first-time buyer share was 33% of transactions.
In 2025, approximately 47,000 homes were built in age-restricted communities representing 3.45% of all housing starts, with roughly two-thirds being single-family units and one-third multifamily units. Age-restricted single-family homes carried a median sales price of $523,000—about 27% higher than non-age-restricted homes at $412,000—despite being only slightly larger at 2,500 square feet versus 2,100 square feet, with the price premium partly attributable to more expensive lot values.
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