Single Family Homes Lead Growth


Steady job growth, affordable home prices, attractive mortgage interest rates, and pent-up demand will help the housing market continue on a gradual upward trajectory in the year ahead, according to economists who participated in last week’s NAHB Spring Construction Forecast Webinar.

“Builders remain cautiously optimistic about market conditions,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “2016 should be the first year since the Great Recession in which the growth rate for single-family production exceeds that of multifamily. And we see single-family growth accelerating in 2017 as the supply chain mends and we can expand production.”

Contributing to the growth was steady job progress, which bolstered consumer confidence and increased housing demand. Looking at the forecast, single-family production is expected to post a 14% gain in 2016 to 812,000 units and rise an additional 19% to 964,000 units in 2017.

That's especially good news for Utah contractors, as the Beehive state is among the top tier of states leading the nationwide growth. According to the National Home Builders Association, "the states with the strongest housing market recoveries are also among the leaders in payroll employment gains since the end of the recession. The strongest housing recoveries to date are in Montana, North Dakota and Utah, all with robust energy sectors that helped push them near or beyond full recovery in housing production." Utah isn't necessarily an energy state, but tech companies are heavily drawn to this area. And with them come employees who need housing.