Year 2015

Led by a jump in multifamily production, nationwide housing starts increased 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million units in September from an upwardly revised August reading, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Multifamily starts rose 18.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units while single-family production edged up 0.3 percent to 740,000 units.

Read more at NAHB

Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes rose three points in October to a level of 64 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This month’s reading is a return to HMI levels seen at the end of the housing boom in late 2005.

Read more at NAHB

Answering the sub-vs.-employee question has always required a judgment call, and until recently the determining factors have involved the amount of control a contractor had over the sub and that amount of control a contractor had over his own decisions. But recently, the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the U.S. Department of Labor issued a memorandum that analysts say puts more emphasis on the sub’s economic independence. In essence, the more that subcontractor relies on you for his living, the harder it will be for you to prove he’s independent.

Read more at REMODELING

DWM Magazine is reporting that spending on home improvement is projected to speed up next year after several quarters of slow growth, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The LIRA projects annual spending growth for home improvements will accelerate from 2.4 percent last quarter to 6.8 percent in the second quarter of 2016.

Read more at DWM

BUILDER is reporting The Wall Street Journal’s Kris Hudson and Jeffrey Sparshott look at the lingering labor malaise that continues to frustrate builders, as the supply of available workers falls far short of the demand for new houses.

While residential construction spending climbed over $36 billion in August–to reach it’s highest point since October 2007–there were more than 676,500 fewer workers in the residential construction industry compared to eight years ago.

Read more at BUILDER

A U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) overtime proposal that would more than double the minimum salary threshold for white collar exemptions will hurt workers, small businesses, the residential construction sector and housing affordability, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress today.

Read more at NAHB