Top 10 Housing Stories in 2024

With voters voicing strong concerns about housing availability and affordability, housing issues took center stage in the pivotal 2024 election year. As we close out the year, here are 10 key housing developments that shaped the residential construction sector in 2024.

1. Housing issues are at the forefront of the 2024 election cycle. For the first time in recent memory, both major presidential candidates, along with candidates for congressional and local elections, made solving the housing affordability crisis a key part of their platforms. President-elect Donald Trump said: “Government regulations are responsible for more than 25% of the cost of a new single-family home and 40% of the cost of multifamily. We’re going to end all of that. And Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly said that she planned to work with home builders to construct an additional 3 million housing units. NAHB worked diligently to ensure housing was a top-tier issue by issuing a 10-point housing plan to ease the housing affordability crisis, testifying before Congress on five different occasions and endorsing nearly 100 bipartisan pro-housing candidates for Congress.
2. Supreme Court ruling is a regulatory game changer. The Supreme Court verdict in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo significantly curtails the regulatory power of federal agencies. NAHB filed a friend-of-the court brief in the case. For home building, this means that every federal agency that builders and developers must deal with — from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and more — will have less discretion to impose new regulations that Congress did not clearly authorize.
3. Judge approves settlement that changes rules for real estate agents. A federal judge in late November approved a settlement between the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and a group of home sellers who sued the real estate trade group over its longstanding rules on real estate commissions. The settlement will change the way how many real estate agents are paid in the United States. NAHB compiled an FAQ on the settlement for members.
4. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented a policy where they will insure mortgages for new homes only if they are built to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Studies have shown that requiring new construction to adopt to the 2021 IECC can add as much as $31,000 to the price of a new home and that it would require up to 90 years for a home buyer to realize a payback on the added upfront cost of the home. NAHB is working tirelessly to reverse this ill-conceived policy.
5. NAHB unveils a new quarterly index that highlights the housing affordability crisis in America. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index found that in the first quarter of 2024 a family earning the nation’s median income of $97,800 needed 38% of its income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home. That same 38% figure held steady in the third quarter of the year.
6. Existing home sales are expected to hit lowest rate since 1995. Existing home sales are on track to hit a nearly 30-year low in 2024 primarily because of the mortgage rate “lock-in effect,” where existing home owners with low mortgage rates are reluctant to put their homes on the market and purchase another home at current rates near 7%.
7. First-time home buyers shrink to a historic low as buyer age hits a record high. The National Association of Realtors reports that the first-time home buyer market share decreased to a historic low of 24% in 2024, down from 32% in 2023. Meanwhile, the overall age of home buyers hit an all-time high of 56 this year compared to 49 in 2023.
8. The Supreme Court ruled that legislation does not protect improper impact fees. In the case of Sheetz v. El Dorado County, NAHB and the California Building Industry Association submitted amicus briefs supporting the home builder. The case provided an avenue for home owners, builders and developers to invoke the Takings Clause in challenges to impact fees in states where the fees are authorized by legislation.
9. A key workforce development program that was threatened to be zeroed out remains fully funded. With Congress threatening to eliminate Job Corps, a vital workforce development training program, NAHB spearheaded a successful effort to keep the program operating with no cuts in funding for fiscal year 2025. The Job Corps program is especially vital given that in any given month, there is a shortage of roughly 200,000 to 400,000 construction workers.
10. Aging U.S. housing stock bodes well for remodelers. The median age of owner-occupied homes is 40 years old. Due to the modest supply of new home construction, the aging housing stock signals a growing remodeling market, as old structures need to add new amenities or repair/replace old components.