Podcast: Has the Housing Upturn Begun?
In the latest episode of the Housing Developments podcast, NAHB CEO Jim Tobin and SVP Paul Lopez discuss two positive economic indices released this week: housing starts had a huge jump in May and builder confidence is in positive territory for the first time in 11 months. The co-hosts discuss the reality that these developments represent, including what this means for the inflationary environment in advance of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill.
Listen to Housing Developments wherever you get your podcasts, or watch a video of the full episode below.
Editor’s note: Find more in-depth analyses on starts and builder sentiment data on NAHB’s economics blog, Eye on Housing.
Latest from NAHBNow
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released the NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the third quarter, posting a reading of 62—up one point compared to the previous quarter.
For the first time since 2022, the share of new homes with two-story foyers increased, according to the Census Bureau's Survey of Construction (SOC). Despite the increase, the market share of two-story foyers has generally trended downward since 2017, with most new single-family homes being built without a two-story foyer both nationally and regionally.
Latest Economic News
Mortgage application activity declined as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose sharply. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, decreased 7.7% month-over-month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. Compared to a year ago, total mortgage applications were lower by 35.4%.
Mortgage rates rose sharply in September as multiple factors applied significant upward pressure on the U.S. treasury yields. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.86% in September, up nearly 20 basis points (bps) from August.
In 2025, around a quarter of new homes were built with a two-story foyer, slightly up from 2024, according to data obtained from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) and tabulated by NAHB.