It’s getting more expensive to build a house

Builders have been making up for time lost during the pandemic, but the supply of homes is still tight – and the cost to build a new home is rising. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, last month, the average loan size for a new home reached its highest level in the survey’s history at $377,434.

So, what goes into the cost of a new home? If you want to build a house, you have to pay for land. Labor. Supplies.

“From lumber to concrete, insulation, resin, paint, bricks, really, you name it,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist at the housing data firm Zonda.

A lot of these supplies are getting more expensive. In part because during the pandemic, Wolf said, “housing demand far exceeded what anyone expected. And now the builders are scrambling and the suppliers are scrambling.”

The rising costs don’t end there. Robert Dietz at the National Association of Home Builders said the costs of things like permits and water and sewer fees add up. 

“And in fact, we estimate that about a quarter of a newly built single family home’s final purchase price is made up in these regulatory burdens,” he said.

The NAHB estimates that all those fees now average almost $94,000 per house.