News & Trends

Habitat for Humanity of Catawba, N.C. built a Zero Energy Ready home that was not only surprisingly affordable to build, it saves its occupants hundreds of dollars on utilities each month.

The 2019 report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that home affordability across the U.S. varies widely.

Fannie Mae’s predictions for new home sales and construction have been adjusted to reflect an optimistic outlook on the U.S. economy.

NAHB reported that homebuilder sentiment hit a 20-year high in December of 2019. The Housing Market Index is based on builder survey data about current home sales, anticipated sales for the next six months, and the numbers of prospective buyers approaching the builders. An average of the three scores above 50 is considered positive, and December came in at 76. (Respective numbers in December were 84 for current sales, 79 for expected sales and 58 for prospective buyers.)

With home prices rising throughout the country, many people cannot keep up with the cost of payments to own them. Attom Data Solutions’s great visual explores the affordability numbers in each location as it relates to slower wage growth that makes it increasingly harder for everyone to be a homeowner.

You might think that the cost to build a zero-energy (ZE) or zero-energy ready home (ZERH) is much higher than the cost of traditional building. But building to zero-energy standards only costs from one to eight percent more up-front than simply building to code.

California needs as many as 3.5 million new homes by 2025. But analysis of 2018 data shows a huge shortfall in the number of building permits being issued.

Housing innovator Module is making progress on the first of a block of new houses in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Garfield. It’s an exciting step forward for revitalizing the neighborhood with homes that are easy to construct and modify, energy efficient, and attractive.

Previous generations were further ahead financially than us millennials at the same age. This chart shows the average wealth by age for the baby boomers, generation X, and millennials, and how far behind millennials are in accumulating wealth versus the previous generations.