NAHB and HUD Showcase Housing Innovations

The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) efforts to find lasting solutions to the housing affordability crisis include educating policymakers and the public on new housing innovations and the building technologies helping to make homes more affordable and more resilient during natural disasters.

To that end, NAHB is proud to again partner with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a three-day event, June 10-12, 2022, in our nation’s capital to highlight technologies and solutions changing the housing industry.

The Innovative Housing Showcase includes exhibits on the National Mall, as well as discussions with lawmakers, entrepreneurs, and home building leaders. Building on the first Showcase in 2019, this year’s event will feature more than a dozen exhibitors of innovative building technologies—including full-size prototype homes—that address affordability and resiliency and emphasize energy efficiency and sustainability.

NAHB, a long-standing proponent of energy efficiency, encourages the use of building products and techniques that reduce energy use, enhance a home’s value, and can be repaid through savings in operating costs over a reasonable period of time. We maintain a commitment to research, development, and implementation of new products, building techniques, and financing practices for new and existing buildings, which can help bring down the cost of housing.

The Biden Administration wants to increase the supply of affordable housing, and HUD secretary Marcia Fudge has committed to integrating strategies being pursued by state and local governments to remove regulatory barriers that limit housing production and preservation.

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Fewer Prospective Buyers Are Actively Searching for a Home

More and more, would-be homebuyers aren’t moving from the planning stage to an active home search. While the share of prospective buyers actively trying to find a home to buy peaked at 61% in mid-2021, that share has since returned to a pre-pandemic level of 46%.

The decline in active searching makes it clear that higher mortgage rates and double-digit percentage growth in home prices are discouraging more buyers from engaging in the purchasing process. And it’s happening in every region of the country.

From the peak to now, the share of active searchers dropped in the Northeast (72% to 50%), Midwest (51% to 40%), South (58% to 48%), and West (72% to 46%).

Also, in the first quarter of 2022, 67% of active buyers spent three months searching for a home. Before the pandemic—from Q1 2018 to Q1 2020—fewer than 60% of active buyers shopped for a home for more than three months.