The Housing Industry Is Poised to Lead the Nation's Economic Recovery

As the industry observes National Homeownership Month in June, recent housing data indicate the important role the residential construction industry will play in leading the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

The latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) revealed that the housing market is showing signs of stabilizing and gradually moving forward in the wake of the pandemic, as builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes increased seven points to 37 in May. The rise in builder sentiment follows the largest single monthly decline in the history of the index in April. Even with the recent decline, single-family starts remain 1 percent higher for the first four months of the year compared to the first four months of 2019.