Building 1,000 Homes Packs an Economic Punch
A new study from NAHB shows that housing stands poised to lead the economic rebound once social distancing and other virus mitigation efforts show success in containing the coronavirus pandemic.
Building 1,000 average single-family homes creates 2,900 full-time jobs and generates $110.96 million in taxes and fees for all levels of government to support police, firefighters and schools, according to NAHB’s National Impact of Home Building and Remodeling report. Similarly, building 1,000 average rental apartments generates 1,250 jobs and $55.91 million in taxes and revenue for local, state and federal government. Moreover, $10 million in remodeling expenditures creates 75 jobs and nearly $3 million in taxes.
“Before the coronavirus pummeled the U.S. economy, housing was on the rise, with January and February new home sales numbers posting their highest reading since the Great Recession,” said NAHB Chairman Dean Mon. “The demand is clearly there, and as this study shows, we expect that housing will play its traditional role of helping to lead the economy out of recession later in 2020 when the pandemic subsides.”
The NAHB model shows that job creation through housing is broad-based. Building new homes and apartments generates jobs in industries that produce lumber, concrete, lighting fixtures, heating equipment and other products that go into a home remodeling project. Other jobs are generated in the process of transporting, storing and selling these projects.
Additional jobs are generated for professionals such as architects, engineers, real estate agents, lawyers and accountants who provide services to home builders, home buyers and remodelers.
In another sign of the important role that housing plays in the economy, the Department of Homeland Security announced on March 28 that it had designated construction of single-family and multifamily housing as an “Essential Infrastructure Business,” meaning that construction could continue in places under stay-at-home orders. Although this designation is not binding to state and local governments, it does mean that there could be more workers on job sites in the coming weeks.
“Ensuring the health and safety of home builders and contractors is our top priority,” said Mon. “This is why NAHB and construction industry partners have developed a Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Plan specifically tailored to construction job sites. The plan is customizable and covers areas that include manager and worker responsibilities, job site protective measure, cleaning and disinfecting, responding to exposures incidents, and OSHA record-keeping requirements.”
NAHB senior economist Paul Emrath provides more analysis in this Eye on Housing blog post.
The full National Impact of Home Building and Remodeling study can be found on nahb.org.
Latest from NAHBNow
Oct 22, 2025
NAHB Recommends Permitting Improvements to EPA and CorpsOn Oct. 16, NAHB met with political leadership from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) to discuss the agencies’ regulatory priorities for 2026 and beyond.
Oct 21, 2025
Senate Panel Passes NAHB-Backed Forestry BillThe Senate, Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee today advanced the Fix Our Forest Act, NAHB-supported legislation that will contribute to better forest management practices, help strengthen the nation’s housing supply chain and promote affordable housing opportunities for all Americans.
Latest Economic News
Oct 20, 2025
Non-Conventional Financing for New Home Sales Loses Ground in 2024Nationwide, the share of non-conventional financing for new home sales accounted for 31% of the market per NAHB analysis of the 2024 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) data. This is 1.7 percentage point lower than the 2023 share of 32.4%. As in previous years, conventional financing dominated the market at 69.3% of sales, higher than the 2023 share of 67.6%.
Oct 17, 2025
Better Growth, Larger Deficits: CBO Fiscal OutlookThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a key nonpartisan score keeper that measures the effects of policy changes by the Federal Government. With several policy changes since January of this year, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), stricter immigration, and higher tariffs, the CBO updated its economic projections through 2028.
Oct 16, 2025
Amid Market Challenges, Builder Expectations Rise in OctoberEven as builders continue to grapple with market and macroeconomic uncertainty, sentiment levels posted a solid gain in October as future sales expectations surpassed the 50-point breakeven mark for the first time since last January.