Archinect - News 2024-12-22T00:55:04-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150324914/on-the-disappearance-of-american-starter-homes On the disappearance of American starter homes Josh Niland 2022-09-26T15:38:00-04:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/99/9990a83ef6f2e40b57fc6938e51f99f3.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>The disappearance of such affordable homes is central to the American housing crisis. The nation has a deepening shortage of housing. But, more specifically, there isn&rsquo;t enough of this housing: small, no-frills homes that would give a family new to the country or a young couple with student debt a foothold to build equity. [...] At the root is the math problem of putting &mdash; or keeping &mdash; a low-cost home on increasingly pricey land.</p></em><br /><br /><p>America has a long history of gradually siphoning away architecture made for predominantly middle-class people (think pre-war buildings in Manhattan or Levittown tract housing on Long Island) and is now simply under-delivering what could otherwise be an <a href="https://www.clevelandfed.org/en/newsroom-and-events/publications/economic-commentary/2021-economic-commentaries/ec-202122-evaluating-homeownership-as-the-solution-to-wealth-inequality.aspx" target="_blank">equalizing force</a> as a result of prevailing factors like intimidating zoning regulations, <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150299530/a-nationwide-shortage-of-garage-doors-leaves-new-residential-construction-projects-stuck-open" target="_blank">prohibitive</a> materials costs, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-is-running-short-of-land-for-housing-11664125841?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f" target="_blank">nationwide&nbsp;lack</a> of available new land.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/d4/d40e28940df6c509beef03a529b53b33.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/d4/d40e28940df6c509beef03a529b53b33.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Related on Archinect: <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150159374/why-is-america-obsessed-with-huge-homes" target="_blank">Why is America obsessed with huge homes?</a></figcaption></figure><p>Changes in demand also meant the 2010s were curtains for the possibility of building a home at less than $100,000. Today&rsquo;s market has gravitated towards so-called "missing middle" construction as <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/149969310/breaking-the-single-family-mold-to-design-around-real-american-families" target="_blank">historical notions of family composition</a> themselves come into question. This means the future of housing might look closer to Adam Neumann's <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150320584/wework-co-founder-adam-neumann-is-getting-into-the-housing-market-with-a-new-startup" target="_blank">Flow</a> vision or BIG's <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150291140/a-first-look-at-nabr-bjarke-ingels-disruptor-housing-company" target="_blank">Nabr</a> initiative than it does to the archetypal American suburb of the 1950s.&nbsp;</p> <p>As the <em>Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/upshot/starter-home-prices.html" target="_blank">reports</a>, its cause can also be attributed to the overburdening of bui...</p> https://archinect.com/news/article/150313644/june-s-nahb-wells-fargo-hmi-shows-builder-pessimism-at-an-all-time-high June's NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI shows builder pessimism at an all-time high Josh Niland 2022-06-21T08:30:00-04:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/e2/e2e02be4c6002d658a8980b79cd14935.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>A new poll conducted by the National Association of Home Builders shows builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes is at its lowest level after six straight months of decline. The poll measures builder perceptions of current and future single-family home sales, and the traffic of prospective buyers. All three categories posted declines in the latest monthly data with buyer traffic falling most sharply, a sign that homebuyers &mdash; especially first-time ones &mdash; are giving up.</p></em><br /><br /><p>The now-familiar cocktail of increasingly higher interest rates and <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150283443/u-s-home-prices-reach-record-19-7-gain-in-july" target="_blank">home prices</a> is once again causing headaches for contractors looking to fill America&rsquo;s shortage of 4 million homes. The NAHB has been <a href="https://www.nahb.org/blog/2021/10/NAHB-Calls-on-Biden-to-Act-on-Lumber-and-Supply-Chain-Bottlenecks" target="_blank">pushing</a> the Biden Administration to take action on the supply-side of the problem since last year, and now says that a 19% increase in the average cost of <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150295008/materials-prices-rise-20-in-2021-according-to-new-report" target="_blank">construction materials</a> will require even further measures be taken in the form of jobs training, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/business/economy/biden-china-tariffs-inflation.html" target="_blank">tariff rollbacks</a>, and a <a href="https://about.bgov.com/news/republicans-seek-ban-on-russian-timber-boost-to-u-s-logging/" target="_blank">ban on Russian timber</a> in the hopes of combatting the nationwide problem.</p> <figure><figure><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a9/a9f04a96f5261da3631ff5ce80b15775.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a9/a9f04a96f5261da3631ff5ce80b15775.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;enlarge=true&amp;w=514"></a><figcaption>Related on Archinect: <a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150307401/a-new-census-bureau-hud-report-has-construction-starts-rising-again-despite-high-mortgage-rates" target="_blank">A new Census Bureau/HUD report has construction starts rising again despite high mortgage rates</a></figcaption></figure></figure><p>The group's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/housing-economics/indices/housing-market-index" target="_blank">new poll</a>&nbsp;indicates an atmosphere of waned confidence in an industry beset by&nbsp;<a href="https://archinect.com/news/article/150313393/despite-salary-increases-construction-job-openings-remain-at-a-record-high" target="_blank">labor shortages</a>&nbsp;and a string of business failures for the past two years. All three categories of measure reported percentage point decreases of 1 (sales conditions), 2 (expectations), and 5, a record for buyer traffic, which has fallen belo...</p> https://archinect.com/news/article/150156105/trump-administration-poised-to-reshape-government-s-role-in-fannie-mae-freddie-mac Trump Administration poised to reshape government's role in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Antonio Pacheco 2019-08-30T19:15:00-04:00 >2019-08-30T19:12:17-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/d5/d518a5a3ac7ee9b37ea2701a5573fef8.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>The Trump administration and lawmakers in both parties generally don&rsquo;t believe the government should be running in effect two enormous financial companies. Administration officials want to shrink the government&rsquo;s involvement and return housing finance to a privately run system.</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>The Wall Street Journal</em> takes a look at how (and why) the Trump Administration is looking to change the federal government's role in overseeing aspects of the nation's mortgage securities market.&nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<em>WSJ</em>, the two government-sponsored entities&nbsp;secure half of the nation&rsquo;s $10 trillion mortgage market.</p> https://archinect.com/news/article/148888343/single-women-emerge-as-second-strongest-group-of-homebuyers Single women emerge as second-strongest group of homebuyers Alexander Walter 2016-02-24T13:48:00-05:00 >2016-02-29T01:08:20-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/6d/6d6q6wbbnzia03il.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>It's hard to remember that just a few decades ago it was difficult, if not impossible, for a woman alone to take out a mortgage. Federal legislation changed that. And yet, it's still surprising to learn how dominant single women have become in the housing market today: Their share is second only to married couples, and twice that of single men.</p></em><br /><br /><p>Related stories in the Archinect news:</p><ul><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/103274600/millennials-not-forming-enough-households" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Millennials, not forming enough households</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/118197559/a-look-at-the-growing-influence-of-immigrants-on-the-american-housing-market" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A look at the growing influence of immigrants on the American housing market</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/123600021/looking-to-buy-a-home-in-sf-good-luck" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Looking to buy a home in SF? Good luck</a></li></ul> https://archinect.com/news/article/142820371/the-return-of-redlining-how-the-mortgage-industry-is-threatening-detroit-s-rejuvenation The return of redlining: how the mortgage industry is threatening Detroit's rejuvenation Nicholas Korody 2015-12-07T13:04:00-05:00 >2015-12-07T13:04:57-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/tm/tm5r43sl4u1amkl7.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>In Detroit, there were 3,500 sales of single-family homes in 2014. Only 462 of them received a mortgage. That means that nearly 87 percent of sales were in cash &mdash; and that doesn&rsquo;t include homes sold in foreclosure auction. Comparatively, the overall metro area saw only 53 percent in cash sales the same year. Nationwide, it was 43 percent. &ldquo;The number one issue that we, in the end, identified in Detroit is that it&rsquo;s incredibly hard for homebuyers to get a mortgage right now,&rdquo; say Svenja Gudell..</p></em><br /><br /><p><strong>Related coverage:</strong></p><ul><li><a title='U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, "The Architectural Imagination", now open for submissions' href="http://archinect.com/news/article/132106689/u-s-pavilion-at-the-2016-venice-biennale-the-architectural-imagination-now-open-for-submissions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, "The Architectural Imagination", now open for submissions</a></li><li><a title="Participating architects announced for the US Pavilion of the 2016 Venice Biennale " href="http://archinect.com/news/article/135281881/participating-architects-announced-for-the-us-pavilion-of-the-2016-venice-biennale" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Participating architects announced for the US Pavilion of the 2016 Venice Biennale</a></li><li><a title="How Detroit can learn to revive its derelict industrial sites from other cities" href="http://archinect.com/news/article/131801551/how-detroit-can-learn-to-revive-its-derelict-industrial-sites-from-other-cities" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Detroit can learn to revive its derelict industrial sites from other cities</a></li><li><a title='Detroit issues arrest for "vandal" Shepard Fairey' href="http://archinect.com/news/article/131021521/detroit-issues-arrest-for-vandal-shepard-fairey" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Detroit issues arrest for "vandal" Shepard Fairey</a></li><li><a title="About Detroit's too often skewed media coverage" href="http://archinect.com/news/article/118196753/about-detroit-s-too-often-skewed-media-coverage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">About Detroit's too often skewed media coverage</a></li></ul>