Economics

NAHB’s Economics team provides in-depth economic analysis of the most significant issues and latest trends driving the housing industry. In addition to national housing market data, this section includes state and local data for the Western region.

Housing Industry Snapshot

*Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate; Arrows indicate direction from previous month for starts and sales and year for prices.

NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index: The index, which measures builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes, fell two points to 39 in August from a downwardly revised reading of 41 in July. This is the lowest reading since December 2023. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good.

NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz’s analysis

The decline in single-family home construction in July mirrors our latest builder surveys, which show that buyers remain concerned about challenging affordability conditions and builders are grappling with elevated rates for builder loans, a shortage of workers and lots, and supply chain concerns for some building materials. Better inflation data points to the Federal Reserve moving to cut interest rates possibly as early as September, and with interest rates expected to moderate in the months ahead, this will help both buyers and builders who are dealing with tight lending conditions. However, the only sustainable way to ease high housing costs is to implement policies that allow builders to construct more attainable, affordable housing.

Labor and Workforce Data

• Employment by State and Metro Areas: Access the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about overall employment and construction employees in your state and local metro areas.
• Western Region Workforce Data: Find the construction trades wage data for the 13 states comprising the Western region of the United States.