NAHB Introduces Remodeling Labor Market and Input Price Update

On Wednesday, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) introduced a new quarterly update covering labor market conditions and input prices for the remodeling industry. The Q2 report is being released between NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index and State Projection of Remodeling reports.

Labor

Seasonally adjusted residential remodeling employment totaled 454,100 in Q2, accounting for more than 49% of total residential building construction employment. Remodeling employment declined by 5,100 from Q1 and was down 1.0% year-over-year, but remained more than 19% above its pre-pandemic level.

Remodeling Input Price Index

NAHB Economics also introduced the NAHB Remodeling Input Price Index (RIPI), a fixed-weight composite measuring monthly price changes among nonlabor inputs associated with residential improvements and routine residential maintenance and repair.

NAHB said the RIPI does not estimate the total cost of a remodeling project or the price a remodeler should charge customers. Instead, it is intended to provide insight into price movements for selected inputs used by the remodeling industry.

In Q2, the RIPI showed remodeling input costs increased 6.6% year-over-year, accelerating from a 3.9% increase in Q1. That compared with a 5.4% increase in final demand prices and a 7.8% increase in input prices for new residential construction.

The RIPI has recorded year-over-year increases in remodeling input costs for 11 consecutive quarters.