Pent-up demand from the pandemic is creating a general spending surge that is helping to improve the outlook on construction spending over the next two years.

Sales of newly built, single-family homes fell 6.6 percent in June to a 676,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate.

Architecture firms reported increasing demand for design services in June according to a new report.

AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for May rose to 58.5 compared to 57.9 in April (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings).

New home sales fell to the lowest pace in a year, with prices jumping 18 percent on a year-over-year basis, due to the high costs and uncertain availability of building materials, lots and labor.

A new report released from the American Institute of Architects, in partnership with Oldcastle Building Envelope, is providing an in depth look at the impact of the pandemic on design firm business conditions. 

Overall housing starts increased 3.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.57 million units off of a downwardly revised April reading.

Purchases of high-end homes in the U.S. jumped 26% year over year during the three months ending April 30, outpacing the 17.8% gain in purchases of affordable homes and the 14.8% increase in purchases of mid-priced homes.

Soaring lumber prices that have tripled over the past 12 months have caused the price of an average new single-family home to increase by $35,872.

While longer-commute areas have a much greater market share in single-family home building, the single-family construction growth rates in the first quarter of 2021 were strongest in the areas with the shortest commuting times.