In the dusty, extra wide wood path from Home DepotA contractor taps the neatly stacked boards while he is walking and the wood Opmaat that will soon be the backbone of his next project.
He has a contract to rebuild a privacy fence in the historic Capitol Hill district in Washington, DC, loved for his quiet, narrow streets and age -old houses. The project is simple, but comes with an increased price tag.
It is a national frustration shared because rising prices for modest materials tram construction budgets of any size.
Veteran of real estate warns ‘hopelessness’ in the housing market, threatens the American dream
A customer shops in the wood section of a Home Depot store on 8 September 2025 in Pasadena, California. (Mario Tama / Getty images)
In the past six years, the costs of almost every large building material – from wood and steel to concrete and drywall – have risen sharply. Some prices enriched during the pandemic and relaxed, while others rose steadily without signs of delays.
Together these indicators have reformed the economy of housing construction, pushing projects on the budget, the construction time lines and ultimately added tens of thousands of dollars to the costs of a single house.
In other words, these costs are partly how, when and or houses are built.
American house prices have risen by 47% since the beginning of 2020
“Rates certainly appear in the costs of materials, in particular steel and wood for houses,” says Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America, a trade association established in Virginia.
“The more recent rates for copper products will also work their way in the costs of devices, heating and air conditioning systems and electronic controls and wiring,” he said, adding that rates will make it even harder to praise new houses at an affordable rate.
According to Jim Tinbin, President and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a Washington, DC, Trade Association, rates are pushing the costs, so that about $ 11,000 are built on the price of building a standard, single -family home.
But rates are not the only pressure point. Shaky labor data also arouses doubts about the wider economy. Together they paint a picture of the growing uncertainty.
White House Slams 911K Jobs Revision, the largest on registered, demands the reduction of the FED rate
The labor department reported on Tuesday that American job growth was exaggerated by 911,000, which expressed new concern about the economy, the labor market and the ability of Americans to buy and build houses.
The adjustment – the largest such revision in banengates – comes as president Donald Trump Intenses his calls for the Federal Reserve to lower the rates to stimulate the economy.
FED chairman Jerome Powell during a press conference in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross / Bloomberg / Getty images)
Tobin said that high loan costs remain the biggest obstacle in the industry.
“Interest rates are the large restrictive factor for the market,” he said, and noted that 30-year mortgage interest rate is just under 6.5%.
“But they are starting to trend. The 10-year-old treasury is moving lower, which means that the mortgage interest will follow. As soon as we come closer to 6% and there will remain consistently, I will see that people are coming back on the market.”
New houses under construction in Vacaville, California, on Wednesday 3 September 2025. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty images)
Tobin, which leads the trade group that represents American home builders, said that he regards the current economic headwind – from trade policy to weak baneng data – as temporarily.
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“In uncertain economic times, people will be reluctant to make the greatest investment of their lives, the greatest purchase of their lives, whether it is about buying an existing house or building a new house,” he said.
“I think it’s just a pressure point. I don’t think this is the new normal,” pointing to a strong millennial question to single-family homes.
