Browse reports prepared by our research team on the construction industry. We use data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, among other sources, to provide readers with up-to-date data and statistics relevant to the construction industry.
While many industries suffered during the pandemic, construction kept going strong amid low interest rates and increased housing demand. Ironically, even though construction is booming, firms are having a hard time finding labor. Experts are divided on why this is,…
More than 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, much about the pandemic-era economy remains unusual and difficult to analyze. From a labor market that has both worker shortages and high unemployment to supply chain breakdowns and inflation fears, it has…
The residential real estate market has been booming during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more buyers looking for homes and competing for unusually low levels of inventory. With new supply desperately needed, the market currently presents enormous opportunities for builders and…
With red-hot demand for residential construction nationwide, many builders are struggling to find the professionals they need to keep up. One recent forecast from a national trade association estimated that an additional 430,000 construction professionals will be needed in the…
The construction industry took a huge hit in 2020 due to pandemic-induced shutdowns and work stoppages. While construction is now booming in many cities across the country due to pent-up demand for new homes and low interest rates, construction employment…
As the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most pronounced effects is on the job market for lower-wage professions. Low-wage workers were among the hardest hit when large portions of the economy shut down at…
While the potential for trillions of dollars of new infrastructure spending looms on the horizon, America’s construction industry is struggling to even keep pace with current demand for new homes, businesses, roads, and bridges. A shortage of supplies and employees…
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s housing boom has surged to new heights thanks to a combination of factors that homebuyers haven’t experienced since before the housing bubble more than a dozen years ago. To begin with, fall…
As the U.S. begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and work towards economic recovery, one of the major economic issues to watch in the months and years ahead is housing. The pandemic has in some ways increased economic inequality,…
While 2020 was a year that many industries would soon like to forget, plumbers’ popularity hit all-time highs. According to Google search trends, searches for local plumbers and other contractors hit their highest levels in five years as more homeowners…
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, homeowners across the country used their spare time to tackle overdue home projects. As the year continued, a combination of factors, including low interest rates and rising home prices, helped fuel a…
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest economic stories has been the red-hot residential real estate market. Housing inventory is at all-time lows, but low interest rates, government stimulus, increased household savings, and a growing…
It’s already been a busy year for construction, thanks to surges in new housing development and renovations, as well as changes to businesses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors will likely accelerate already strong growth projections for the…
As mortgage interest rates inch up, mortgage refinancing applications are dropping. This comes after refinancing exploded in 2020 during the pandemic as interest rates reached record lows. According to the most recent loan-level mortgage data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure…
Although interest rates have inched up recently, they remain at historic lows, spurring demand in both home purchases and mortgage refinancing. However, many lenders have tightened up their borrowing standards due to the economic uncertainty of the pandemic, and hopeful…
