Tag: construction
One of the many reasons for the growing housing shortage in the US is that people are “aging in place”. According to one study, people stay in their homes twice as long as they did in the 1920s. Homeowners aren’t updating their homes before placing them on the market, leaving buyers with unsatisfactory choices. “We… Read more »
During the 1970s, prefab was huge. Designers and builders recognized that they could save time and build cheaper and more accurately if they produced homes in factories. According to the US Census bureau, only 2% of single-family homes were prefab or modular in 2016. So why are there so few prefab houses today? From movie… Read more »
The building industry is not keeping up with demand. Labor shortages mean not enough new homes are being built and that results in higher prices. The number of workers who are 24 and under has declined by 30% in 48 states, according to the analysis of U.S. Census data by Issi Romem, chief economist at… Read more »
There is a pervasive myth that millennials will be a generation of renters. While they are off to a late start, millennials are investing in starter homes faster than the construction industry can build them. The perception that younger home seekers would rather rent than buy may have been true during the housing recession years,… Read more »
Construction hasn’t changed much in the last few decades. In fact, labor productivity actually declined by 19% between 1995 and 2015 . While innovation has improved equipment and technology, the process of building hasn’t undergone a major change for some time. Severe shortages of skilled onsite labor, rising labor costs and a lack of affordable housing are… Read more »