Image by Holger Schué from Pixabay
By Chief Economist Robert Dietz | NAHBNow
The housing industry is being squeezed. While the sector was the bright spot of the economy for 2020 and possesses considerable momentum at the start of 2021, a number of external factors are restraining the industry as well as the nation’s overall economic recovery.
For example, shortages of steel and semiconductors are slowing production of cars and other high-end manufacturing goods. In the housing sector, a lack of lumber and other key building materials have sent softwood lumber prices soaring to all-time highs. NAHB determined the current run-up on lumber is adding more than $24,000 to the price of the average newly-built home.
