NAHB Urges Biden to Reduce Home Building Costs
In a letter directed to the White House on Wednesday, the National Association of Home Builders appealed to President Biden for assistance with supply chain disruptions, which are sending the cost of building materials to a record high. As the Federal Reserve pushes interest rates above 5%, housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable across the U.S., and price volatility for building materials isn’t helping.
Frequent changes in lumber prices have raised the cost of a typical single-family home by over $18,600 just since last August, and Canadian tariffs are creating another roadblock for lumber imports, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The National Association of Home Builders also asked the administration to reduce “burdensome regulations” that it says account for nearly 25% of the price of building a single-family home.
NAHB member firms are slated to construct about 80% of the new housing units projected for this year. The group’s gauge of homebuilder sentiment fell to a seven-month low in April as rising mortgage rates and high asking prices led to declines in sales and prospective buyer traffic.