Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Northeast fell nine points to 56, the Midwest dropped three points to 49, the South fell seven points to 63 and the West posted an 11-point decline to 51.
Current market conditions have aggravated building officials, including Konter – arguably among the most visible representatives given his chairmanship of the NAHB. Last week, he railed against lawmakers’ efforts in passing the Inflation Reduction Act.
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“Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) must have been peering through the looking glass when they named their legislation the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’” he said. “Not only does this legislation fail to ease any inflationary pressures on housing, arguably the nation’s No. 1 economic concern, it also contains several onerous provisions that will exacerbate the nation’s housing affordability crisis.”
He added: “Housing costs account for 40% of the Consumer Price Index, and with home prices and rents rising even faster than inflation, Americans are being squeezed hard. And while this bill would do little to wring inflation out of the overall economy, it contains several changes to the taxation of real estate and new building and energy code requirements that will raise housing costs for millions of consumers while doing very little to provide meaningful energy savings.
“Rather than chasing this flawed bill down their rabbit hole, Senate Democrats need to rework this legislation by eliminating onerous provisions that would make homeownership and renting even more expensive for America’s hardworking families and adding resources to expand the supply of badly needed affordable housing.”
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