Residential Construction at a Crossroads - Connected World

The residential construction market is sending a message, and it is one we should pay attention to: We cannot build the future of housing the same way we built the past.

The latest numbers from the NAHB (National Assn. of Home Builders) make the challenge clear. New single-family home sales fell 10.5% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000—the slowest pace since the beginning of the year. Sales were also down 6.3% from a year earlier. NAHB says single-family home building is on track for a second consecutive annual decline in 2026.

At the heart of the problem is affordability. Buyers are still confronting the combined weight of home prices, mortgage rates, insurance, taxes, and the broader uncertainty surrounding the economy. Builders are responding with incentives, including mortgage-rate buydowns, but those tactics can only go so far. And then, there is the challenge that the Baby Boomers...

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