Insights
New Construction Trends (Q1 ’23)
BuildZoom has an array of classifiers applied to building permits, which allows us to track trends across different segments of the construction market. The ‘new construction’ classifier has a high correlation (r=.77) with the US Census’ estimate for monthly expenditures on private residential construction. Taking a…
The Toughest Places to Build: Behind the Scenes of a Wall Street Journal Analysis
The Wall Street Journal recently asked me to identify and rank the nation’s toughest places to build housing. This blog post provides readers with the full set of rankings, as well as commentary and a rundown of the data and methods used. Download Rankings Metropolitan areas Zip code…
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Urban Geography, Vacant Lots, and The Stunted Recovery of New Home Construction
Summary: Even as home prices reach new highs and markets are starved for inventory, the rise in the number of new homes built in the U.S. is sluggish. Homebuilders blame a shortage of labor and, crucially, a limited supply of lots. The geography within metros is…
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Renewal of The Existing Housing Stock Depends on Home Sales
On average from 2010 to 2015, every 3 existing home sales generated construction activity in 1 additional home. Even though people routinely care for their homes, the turnover of homes between owners is vital in keeping the housing stock up to date. The up-front cost of…
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Do-It-Yourself? Depends Where You Live and What You’re Fixin’ To Do
he days when you had to build your own home are long gone, but many Americans still pride themselves on doing their own handywork. With roughly 300 billion dollars spent on home improvement last year, there is plenty of work to keep both us and the…
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Which San Francisco Neighborhoods See the Most Remodeling?
Residential remodeling activity is not distributed equally, and some parts of town receive more than their fair share. Of course, homes in more intensively remodeled neighborhoods tend to be in better shape and to tout the most upgrades both inside and out. As a result, players…
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