Limited existing inventory helped single-family starts to post a solid gain in February, but builders are still grappling with elevated construction costs stemming from tariff issues and persistent shortages related to buildable lots and labor.
As the number of housing units under construction peaked in 2023, the industry set another record employing close to 11.4 million people, including self-employed workers. NAHB estimates that out of this total, 4.7 million people worked in residential construction, accounting for 2.9% of the U.S. employed civilian labor force. Home building in the Mountain Division, as well as in Vermont and Florida, stand out as generating a significantly higher share of local jobs, with residential construction generating more than 5% of all jobs in Idaho and Montana. NAHB’s analysis also identifies congressional districts where home building accounts for particularly high employment levels and share of local jobs. Not surprisingly, the most populous state—California—also has the most residential construction workers. Over 640,000 California residents worked in home building in 2023, accounting for 3.4% of the state employed labor force. Fast-growing Florida comes in second with 468,000 residential construction workers. The state stands out for registering one of the fastest growing populations since the start of the pandemic, which undoubtedly boosted housing and construction workforce demand. Florida’s large stock of vacation and seasonal housing further boosts demand for residential construction workers. As a result, in Florida, residential construction workers account for a relatively high 4.4% of the employed labor. Even though this share is well above the national average (2.9%), it is significantly lower than in 2006, when Florida registered the highest share among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, at 6.5%. Similar to Florida, fast-growing states with a high prevalence of seasonal, vacation homes top the list of states with the highest share of residential construction workers in 2023. Three states in the Mountain Division - Idaho, Montana, and Utah - take the top spots on the list with 5.5%, 5.1% and 4.9% of the employed labor force working in home building. Vermont is next on the list with a share of 4.6%. As of 2023, the average congressional district has about 10,800 residents working in residential construction, but that number is often significantly higher. In Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, over 30,000 residents are in home building and Utah’s 2nd Congressional District has over 25,000 residents working in home building. Eight other congressional districts have over 20,000 residents working in residential construction – Florida’s 26th, Utah’s 4th, Idaho’s 2nd, Florida’s 17th, Arizona’s 3rd, Utah’s 1st, Florida’s 28th, and California’s 29th. By design, Congressional districts are drawn to represent roughly the same number of people. So generally, large numbers of residential construction (RC) workers translate into high shares of RC workers in their district employed labor forces. Idaho’s 1st tops this list as well, registering the highest share of residential construction workers in the employed labor force, 6.4%. Florida’s 17th is a close second with 6.3% of the district labor force employed in home building. Next on the list are two Mountain division districts – Montana’s 1st and Utah’s 2nd – with shares of 5.8%, followed by two Florida’s districts – 19th (5.7%) and 26th (5.6%). California’s 29th (5.4%) and 39th (5.3%) also register shares far exceeding the national average of 2.9%. At the other end of the spectrum there are several districts that contain parts of large urban areas: the District of Columbia, the 12th of New York, located in New York City, Pennsylvania’s 3rd that includes areas of the city of Philadelphia, Georgia’s 5th that includes most of Atlanta, and among others, Illinois’s 7th and 9th, covering parts of Chicago. Most residents in these urban districts tend to work in professional, scientific, and technical services. The District of Columbia stands out for having the lowest number of RC workers, with just 1,400 residing in the district. At the same time, it has a disproportionally large share of public administration workers. The 12th District of New York and the 7th District of Illinois are home to a very large group of finance and insurance workers. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania’s 2nd, more than a third of residents work in health care and educational services. The NAHB residential construction employment estimates include self-employed workers. Counting self-employed is particularly important in the home building industry since they traditionally make up a larger share of the labor force than in the U.S. total workforce. The new NAHB home building employment estimates only include workers directly employed by the industry and do not count jobs created in related industries– such as design and architecture, furniture making, building materials, landscaping, etc. As a result, the estimates underestimate the overall impact of home building on local employment. Discover more from Eye On Housing Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 31 states in January compared to the previous month, while it decreased in 19 states and the District of Columbia. California reported no change during this time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 125,000 in January following a gain of 323,000 jobs in December. On a month-over-month basis, employment data was most favorable in Texas, which added 27,900 jobs. New York came in second (+20,100), followed by Florida (+16,500). Meanwhile, a total of 101,100 jobs were lost across 19 states and the District of Columbia, with Georgia reporting the steepest job losses at 28,200. In percentage terms, employment increased the highest in South Dakota at 0.5%, while Missouri saw the biggest decline at 0.6% between December and January. Year-over-year ending in January, 2.0 million jobs have been added to the labor market, which is a 1.3% increase compared to the January 2024 level. The range of job gains spanned from 400 jobs in Massachusetts to 187,700 jobs in Texas across 48 states. Two states and the District of Columbia lost a total of 14,800 jobs in the past 12 months, with Arizona reporting the steepest job losses at 10,200. In percentage terms, the range of job growth spanned 2.8% in Alaska to 0.1% in California. Massachusetts was unchanged while District of Columbia, Arizona, and West Virginia declined by 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% respectively. Construction Employment Across the nation, construction sector jobs data 1—which includes both residential and non-residential construction—showed that 23 states reported an increase in January compared to December, while 21 states lost construction sector jobs. The six remaining states and the District of Columbia reported no change on a month-over-month basis. Utah, with the highest increase, added 3,300 construction jobs, while Florida, on the other end of the spectrum, lost 5,100 jobs. Overall, the construction industry added a net 2,000 jobs in January compared to the previous month. In percentage terms, Idaho reported the highest increase at 4.0% and Arkansas reported the largest decline at 1.6%. Year-over-year, construction sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 178,000, which is a 2.2% increase compared to the January 2024 level. Texas added 19,800 jobs, which was the largest gain of any state, while California lost 27,600 construction sector jobs. In percentage terms, Idaho had the highest annual growth rate in the construction sector at 11.1%. Over this period, Massachusetts reported the largest decline of 3.9%. For this analysis, BLS combined employment totals for mining, logging, and construction are treated as construction employment for the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Hawaii. Discover more from Eye On Housing Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Registration is now open for NAHB's annual membership drive. With exciting prize opportunities for participating home builders associations (HBAs) and the chance to open doors for industry colleagues, now is your time to help recruit.
Economic uncertainty, the threat of tariffs and elevated construction costs pushed builder sentiment down in March even as builders express hope that a better regulatory environment will lead to an improving business climate.
With a shutdown deadline looming at midnight on March 14, Congress has approved legislation that will fund the government through Sept. 30, 2025, the end of the current fiscal year. The bill essentially keeps last year’s overall spending levels flat but includes a slight increase for defense spending.
As Congress ramps up discussions on extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which will likely also include some of President Trump’s campaign promises on taxes, NAHB is engaging with lawmakers to ensure the tax code continues to promote residential construction and economic growth.
The market value of household real estate assets fell from $48.5 trillion to $48.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the most recent release of U.S. Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts. Household real estate assets value have fallen for two consecutive quarters after peaking at $48.7 trillion in the second quarter of 2024. However, household real estate assets were 7.0% higher over the year in the fourth quarter following a 7.1% increase in the third quarter. Real estate secured liabilities of households’ balance sheets, i.e. mortgages, home equity loans, and HELOCs, increased 0.8% over the fourth quarter to $13.3 trillion. This level is 2.6% higher compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the same year-over-year increase as the third quarter. Owners’ equity share of real estate assets 1 remained above 72% for the fourth straight quarter. The share in the fourth quarter of 2024 was 72.2%, down from a peak of 73.0% just two quarters ago. Owners’ equity as a percentage of household real estate; Difference between assets and liabilities as a share of assets Discover more from Eye On Housing Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
NAHB members who were unable to join us in Las Vegas this February for the leadership meetings at the 2025 International Builders’ Show can watch some of the highlights on nahb.org.
Permits are off to a lower level to start the new year. Over the first month of 2025, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 73,115. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a decline of 3.7% over the January 2024 level of 75,906. For multifamily, the total number of permits issued nationwide reached 38,402. This is 1.2% below the January 2024 level of 38,870. Year-to-date ending in January, single-family permits were up in the Midwest (+11.0%) and the Northeast (+0.6%) but down in the two remaining regions. The West was down by 2.2% and the South was down by 6.6% in single-family permits during this time. For multifamily permits, three out of the four regions posted declines. The South was up by 12.9% but the West posted a decline of 23.4%, the Northeast declined by 14.3%, and the Midwest declined by 1.5%. Between January 2025 YTD and January 2024 YTD, 26 states and the District of Columbia posted an increase in single-family permits. The range of increases spanned 525.0% in the District of Columbia to 0.1% in Utah. The remaining 24 states reported declines in single-family permits with Alaska reporting the steepest decline of 23.1% . The ten states issuing the highest number of single-family permits combined accounted for 65.4% of the total single-family permits issued. Texas, the state with the highest number of single-family permits, issued 12,179 permits over the first month 2025, which is a decline of 4.2% compared to the same period last year. The second highest state, Florida, was down by 13.9%, while the third highest, North Carolina, posted a decline of 11.4%. Between January 2025 YTD and January 2024 YTD, 22 states recorded growth in multifamily permits, while 27 states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline. In January 2024, Alaska issued zero permits and issued 9 multifamily permits in January 2025. Therefore, the growth rate for Alaska is undefined. The District of Columbia (+1,282.4%) led the way with a sharp rise in multifamily permits from 17 to 235, while Delaware had the biggest decline of 90.9% from 176 to 16. The ten states issuing the highest number of multifamily permits combined accounted for 67.6% of the multifamily permits issued. Over the first month of 2025, Florida, the state with the highest number of multifamily permits issued, experienced an increase of 48.0%. Texas, the second-highest state in multifamily permits, saw a decline of 23.1%. New York, the third largest multifamily issuing state, decreased by 19.4%. At the local level, below are the top ten metro areas that issued the highest number of single-family permits. For multifamily permits, below are the top ten local areas that issued the highest number of permits. Discover more from Eye On Housing Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.