While the overall market for new homes is poised to expand, townhome construction is slowing down. Townhouse starts totaled 94,000 over the last four quarters, 5 percent lower than the previous four-quarter period, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Townhouses—or single-family attached housing—comprised 25,000 starts during the second quarter of this year alone, which is 14 percent lower than a year ago.The market share o
Developers are turning to wood framing as a more affordable building material, but officials are warning of some dangers after reports of several wood-frame buildings catching fire across the country.Wood framing is increasingly being used in apartment construction and is largely considered safe once construction is completed. But wood framing can be vulnerable to fires before the interior wallboard and other safety features—like sprinklers and
Builders failed to ramp up inventories last month, despite increasing demand from home buyers and calls from the real estate industry. New-home construction dropped 4.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Development reported Wednesday.Single-family production fell 0.5 percent month over month in July to an adjusted annual rate of 856,000. Th
Housing shortage in America might intensify, says NAR chief economistKey Takeaways In July, new residential construction starts slipped down to a rate of 1,223,000 units -- a 4.1 percent month-over-month decrease.June’s housing starts report was heralded as “welcome news” by National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, who said increasing residential construction was the key to lowering home prices.This month, howeve
Kitchen remodels don’t come cheap. The average cost to update a 200-square-foot kitchen—including installing new flooring, semicustom wood cabinets, and standard appliances—is a whopping $62,000, according to Remodeling Magazine. Homeowners who want to add in more luxurious touches, such as stone countertops, a commercial-grade cooktop, designer faucets, and top-of-the-line custom cabinets, may pay as much as $123,000.Before your clients
Starter homes are harder to come by as builders struggle to offer more entry-level real estate options amid higher construction costs, a new study shows. Just 16 percent of new homes are selling for under $200,000, down from 44 percent in 2010, according to an analysis by research firm John Burns Real Estate Consulting.The share of new homes priced between $200,000 and $400,000 has increased to 55 percent from 43 percent in 2010, and the share ab
The inventory of for-sale homes has struck a 20-year low. And while economists and the public cry for more inventory, many builders are pressed to meet demand. A labor and subcontractor shortage in the building industry has worsened over the past year, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey of single-family builders.Builders reported widespread shortages for each of the 15 occupations su
New-home sales inched up 0.8 percent in June, but sales would be higher if there were more new homes to sell. Sales of newly built single-family homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000 units in June, according to a joint report released by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.“While new home inventory rose slightly in June, it remains tight as builders face lot and labor shortages and in
A shortage of homes for sale combined with growing buyer demands will likely spark home builders to construct the most homes this year than in the last decade, economists told HousingWire.“Most likely a result of the trending imbalance between homes for sale and demand for new homes to purchase, housing starts finally edged up in the month of June to 8.3 percent,” says Greg Parsons, Semper Capital Management CEO. “The need to balance the g
The Los Angeles beachfront neighborhood of Venice may be one of the most in-demand areas in the nation—but it hasn’t gained a single housing unit in the last 15 years.Venice was ranked as the country’s toughest place to build new homes, according to an analysis by contractor website BuildZoom.com. In fact, the neighborhood had about 700 fewer housing units in 2015 than it did in 2000. Apartment development has come to a standstill there, an
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