While builders continue to grapple with labor and material supply-side challenges, they are confronting what could be an even more urgent problem — an extreme lot shortage.
The National Association of Home Builders reports that in a recent survey, 76% of builders reported that the overall supply of developed lots in their areas was low to very low. This is an all-time record — by a wide margin — since NAHB began collecting the information in the 1990s. The previous record was 65%, recorded in 2018.
Responding to questions in the September 2021 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) survey, 46% of single-family builders characterized the supply of lots simply as low, and 30% said the supply of lots was very low, for a total of 76% of builders indicating some type of problem with lot supply.
See NAHB’s complete story on the NAHBNow blog.
