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Browse the siteMarch 13 2018
Builders Cited Labor and Land Shortage, Rising Lumber and Regulatory Costs as Top Barriers to Building More Homes
SEATTLE , March 1, 2018 -- New construction homes accounted for 16.4 percent of all single-family homes for sale in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from 14.2 a year earlier, according to Redfin, the next-generation real estate brokerage. The median price of new single-family homes that sold last quarter was $377,800, the analysis found, up 1.6 percent year over year. Compared with existing homes, new construction sold at an average premium of $86,400 in the fourth quarter. Existing home prices increased 7.3 percent year over year.
"New homes are more expensive than existing homes, and their prices tend to grow at a slower rate," said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. "However, new homes' slower price growth belies their advantage to buyers in the hottest markets. Buyers in these highly competitive markets have been attracted to new construction as a way to avoid bidding wars. They often find it's easier to negotiate with a single builder than to compete with several buyers and negotiate with a traditional seller."
A key factor in the high price of new homes is rising construction costs. The estimated labor and materials cost of constructing a single-family home increased 1.2 percent year over year in the fourth quarter to $244,000 , the highest level since the Census Bureau began reporting it in 1988.
Despite record-high construction costs, housing starts—the number of new residential homes that began construction—rose to 1.3 million in January, the strongest pace on record since 2007 and 7.3 percent above the January 2017 rate of 1.24 million. As housing starts provide insight into what's ahead for the housing market, this growth marked a key milestone in post-downturn recovery for housing.
Still, the supply situation at present remains dire. In January, housing starts were 11.6 percent below the historical average (see chart). The total number of homes for sale in January was 14.4 percent below where it was a year prior, marking 28 consecutive months of declining inventory. With strong buyer demand expected to continue this year, there are still not nearly enough homes for sale. Though building more homes would seem like the obvious solution, a number of obstacles are standing in the way of construction.
"We are growing, but not fast enough to keep up with demand," said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
The largest challenges facing homebuilders and hindering residential construction, according to Dietz, include:
In conjunction with its quarterly report on new residential construction, Redfin makes available on its Data Center a downloadable set of data on new construction prices, sales, inventory and other new residential market statistics. Redfin is also releasing building permit data—provided by the Census—allowing users to analyze average construction costs and compare the number of units built per capita across regions. Both datasets are available for download at the National, Metro, and County Levels since 2012.
To read the full report, complete with data visualizations and downloadable datasets, click here.
Redfin is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $50 billion in home sales.