Eye On Housing

Persistently high mortgage rates, elevated costs for builders, and ongoing supply-side constraints continued to weigh on single-family construction in 2025. According to the NAHB analysis of the 2025 Survey of Construction (SOC), a total of 939,182 new single-family units started construction nationwide. This represents a 6.9% decline compared to 2024. Among the nine Census divi...

After reaching a five-month high last month, existing home sales pulled back in June as record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates weighed on buyers. This monthly volatility reflects the sensitivity of home buyer demand to mortgage rate changes. Mortgage rates, though lower than a year ago, have increased more than 50 basis points since […]

In the second quarter of 2026, the NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a reading of 61, down one point compared to the previous quarter. The RMI has remained in the low 60s consistently over the past year. Even with this slight decline from the previous quarter, remodeler sentiment remains the standout sector within the housing ...

Mortgage applications stalled in June as higher mortgage rates dampened market activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, stayed relatively unchanged with a marginal decrease of 0.3% month-over-month on a seasonally adjusted basis. The decline was driven by a 2.5% decline in refinancing applications,...

In 2025, approximately 47,000 homes were built in age-restricted communities, representing 3.45% of all housing starts. According to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, roughly two-thirds of these homes (30,000) were single-family units, while the remaining 17,000 were multifamily units. In 2009, during the depths of the housing downturn, builders started only 17,000 ho...