Housing Affordability Roadblocks and Construction Innovation

The HIVE (Housing Innovation Vision Economics) Home Builder Survey took responses from single-family and multifamily builders around the United States to identify key issues of interest to the homebuilding industry. The survey found that labor cost and availability is the number one issue related to housing affordability for both single-family and multifamily builders. The cost and availability of building materials (especially lumber and plywood) is also a serious problem.

Based on the survey, there has been relatively little change in the construction methods of building homes over the last forty years. However, there’s also an indication that change is coming — albeit slowly. A number of builders plan to increase the use of innovative construction methods over the next five years, and they recognize that more factory-built/mo

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