Items Tagged with 'housing market'

 The 2026 update reflects the Department's growing interest in leveraging off-site construction to improve efficiency and scalability across military construction programs.

Housing affordability has declined significantly in recent years. The deterioration in price-to-income ratio has been a key factor, as home prices have risen 53% since 2019, while median household income has risen only 24%. This has notably decreased the share of first-time home buyers in the market, which dropped to 21% in 2025 from 44% in 1981. Over that same time frame, the median age for first-time buyers reached a record high of 40 in 2025 from 29 in 1981. 

Total housing starts fell 0.3% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.14 million units from a downwardly revised reading in February, according to a report from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Department that was delayed due to the partial government shutdown.

The June reading of 1.17 million is the number of housing units builders would begin if they kept this pace for the next 12 months.