On this national day of mourning for President George H. W. Bush, the nation’s home builders salute his legacy of a lifetime of service to America.

NAHB Chairman Randy Noel issued the following statement on the passing of President Bush:

“On behalf of all the members of NAHB, I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the Bush family. President Bush was an American war hero, a great statesman and an American patriot who embodied the ideals of our nation.

“He was also a true believer in housing. President Bush hosted the NAHB Board of Directors on the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate the association’s 50th anniversary. He said that ‘strong housing can help a strong economy’ and ‘the dream of homeownership keeps the American dream alive.’

“To make these words a reality, President Bush pushed vigorously for policies to ensure that housing would help boost the economy. He championed a $5,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, called for penalty-free withdrawals from IRAs for the purchase of a first home, urged changes in the passive loss tax rules to spur real estate and housing development, and called for an extension of mortgage revenue bonds and the low-income housing tax credit.

“President Bush summed up the importance of a strong housing industry to America when he said: ‘The old adage is coming true: As housing goes, so goes the economy. Owning a home helps America, makes it better, and more caring.’

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Each year on Veterans Day, we give thoughts and words of appreciation to the brave men and women who sacrifice so much to defend our freedom and safety. In the home building industry, rather simply thanking them, many builders also are hiring veterans.

The industry has long focused on training veterans through the Home Builders Institute, the nonprofit partner of NAHB. The HBI Military and Veterans Program operates on a number of U.S. military bases with training, certification and placement services focused on landing home building jobs for transitioning military members and veterans.

Skills learned in the military can easily transfer to the home building industry.

Marci O’Brien, a new home sales specialist in California, served in the Marine Corps from 1989 to 1994. After her duty was done, she got a real estate license and began participating in the housing boom in Southern California during the mid-90s.

“The Marines gave me so much confidence that I just went around knocking on doors looking for a job,” she said. O’Brien found one pretty quickly and has been in the industry ever since.

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The 2018 midterm elections delivered a split decision: Republicans expanded their Senate majority and Democrats flipped the House.

So what does this mean for housing?

NAHB Chief Lobbyist Jim Tobin provides the following analysis:

As the smoke settles on Election Day, party intensity, electoral history and the map combined to deliver majority control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats for the first time since 2010, while expanding the Republican Senate majority.

On the morning after the 2018 election, two seats in the Senate and a number of seats in the House remained too close to call.

The storyline for the 2018 midterm elections started the day after Donald Trump’s general election victory in 2016. Democrats awoke to the realization that the polls showing a Hillary Clinton victory were very wrong and that an election victory they took largely for granted had vanished. Their disappointment on election night 2016, alleged meddling by Russia, and President Trump’s brash, take-no-prisoners style fueled a steep rise in energy in the Democratic base.

Electoral history was on the side of the Democrats in 2018. In all but two midterm elections since World War II, the party in the White House has lost congressional seats. A large number of retiring GOP incumbents, many in swing districts and in heavily Democratic states, forced House Republicans to defend close to 100 seats against a building Democratic wave. House Democrats had only 13 “toss-up” seats to defend.

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While many of the country's voters are focused on issues like healthcare and job creation during this year's midterm elections, some candidates in the more than 500 House, Senate and gubernatorial races could significantly and directly impact the construction industry if they are elected. 

In addition to the platforms one might expect — Republicans advocating for deregulation and Democrats for a more active government role in the economy, for example — a number of candidates have stances on infrastructure funding, immigration and mega-projects in their districts. Below are the biggest issues this election season involving the construction industry.

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Consumer confidence continued to rise in September, after a big increase in August. Currently, consumers are quite optimistic about both the current situation and the near-term outlook.

The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, increased to 138.4 in September, from 134.7 in August. It has surpassed the 2007 peak of 111.9 and spiked to the highest level since October 2000. Both the present situation index and the expectations index rose in September. The present situation index rose by 0.3 point from 172.8 to 173.1 and the expectations index jumped by 6.0 points from 109.3 to 115.3. The September increase in consumer confidence was mainly generated by an increase in the expectations index.

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Three-fourths of the total cost of building a typical home goes to subcontractors. So as they get harder to find, it’s getting especially hard for projects to stay on schedule and on budget.

Single-family builders who responded to a recent NAHB survey listed which workers they are struggling the most to find. Topping the list: shortages of rough carpenters were reported by 90% of builders — the highest-ever portion for any occupation in residential construction in the survey’s history.

NAHB economist Paul Emrath wrote about the findings in Eye On Housing and offered possible explanations for the severe shortage of subcontractors: One is that workers who were laid off during the housing downturn and subsequently started their own businesses have since returned to work for larger companies.

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A recent NAHB survey found that over the last year, the average cost of builder-employed laborers increased 5.2% and the cost of subcontractor work rose 7.2%.

Comparing those numbers to 2018’s overall inflation (just 2.9%) helps explain why the pace of residential construction continues to be flat: The cost increases are not only resulting in higher home prices for buyers, but a growing number of builders are feeling the pinch as well.

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Layers of excessive regulation translate into higher rents, reduced affordability for consumers and on average, account for almost one-third of a multifamily project’s development and building costs, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress today.

Testifying on behalf of NAHB before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, Steve Lawson, chairman of The Lawson Companies based in Virginia, said that overregulation of the housing industry is felt at every phase of the building process.

“It results from local, state and federal mandates,” said Lawson. “It includes the cost of applying for zoning and subdivision approval, environmental mitigation, and permit, hook-up, impact and other government fees paid by the builder. In many cases, these projects become financially infeasible and, therefore, are not built.”

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Special Registration Discounts Offered Through September

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) officially opened online registration today for the 2019 NAHB International Builders’ Show® (IBS), the largest annual light construction trade show in the world.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the show will return to the Las Vegas Convention Center, Feb. 19-21, after a two-year stint in Orlando, Fla.

The 2019 IBS will again co-locate with the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s (NKBA) Kitchen & Bath Industry Show® (KBIS) for the 6th annual Design & Construction Week® (DCW). The two shows are expected to host more than 2,000 exhibiting brands spanning over a million net square feet of exhibit space, for the largest annual gathering of the residential design and construction industry.

“As we kick off our 75th anniversary of the International Builders’ Show, we are thrilled to bring even more exciting offerings to our attendees than ever before,” said NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, a custom home builder from LaPlace, La. “There is truly nowhere else that you can find such an array of innovative products, education sessions, special events and networking opportunities all in one place. This is the biggest show for the housing industry and is not one to be missed.”

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