Rising Lumber Prices, Falling Homebuilder Sentiment in June

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The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)’s newly released NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for June 2018 shows a 2-point drop to 68 in homebuilder sentiment due to rising lumber prices—one of the factors affecting affordability of single-family housing construction.

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Construction Sector and Florida Led 2016 Employment Growth

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The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a tip sheet from the 2016 County Business Patterns (CBP), showing an overall growth in employment from 2015 to 2016. Among its highlights, the construction sector led with the highest rate of employment growth, at 5 percent, while Florida had the largest percentage increase in first quarter employment, also at 5 percent.

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