Why new homes are about to get pricier

Source: Builder

With the cost of building materials jumping 25 percent year over year, according to the National Association of Home Builders' NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, builders are increasingly concerned about how this will affect home buyers in the new-construction market. In 2016, builders ranked the cost of building materials low on their list of concerns—but now it's one of their top five. The increased cost of lumber is a chief catalyst. "Negotiations on a new softwood lumber agreement between the United States and Canada ground to a halt at the end of 2016 and likely are stalled pending the results of an investigation into unfair import practices requested by the U.S. Lumber Coalition," the NAHB reports.