Author: Brad Beckett

According to the ADP National Employment Report for August, 2026, private sector employment increased by 38k jobs.   ADP says private employers posted their slowest pace of job creation since January with manufacturing, professional services, and information shedding jobs.  However, education, health care, construction, leisure and hospitality all showed solid hiring.  The ADP National Employment Report is an independent and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on the aggregated and anonymized payroll data of more than 26 million U.S. employees. “Pay can tell us a lot about today’s choppy hiring. To understand hiring patterns, you have to look deeply…

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), house prices rose 2.1% between second quarter of 2025 and Q2 of 2026.  House prices for the second quarter of 2026 rose 0.3% compared Q1 of 2026. In addition, Their seasonally adjusted monthly index for June remained unchanged from May.  The FHFA HPI is the nation’s only collection of public, freely available house price indexes that measure changes in single-family home values based on data from all 50 states and over 400 American cities that extend back to the mid-1970s. Click here to read the full report…

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162k in August, 2026 with the unemployment unchanged 4.1%.  In addition, the report says employment increased in food services and drinking places and in local government education while the information industry lost jobs. Click here to read the full report at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in July, 2026 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,157.6 billion, down 0.5% from June’s revised number.  In addition, July’s estimate is 3.8% lower than one year ago.  Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $859 billion in July, which is 1.3% lower than June’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

This Monday, September 7th is Labor Day.  The annual 3-day  weekend marks the unofficial end of Summer and ushers in the cool Fall season – although Fall doesn’t officially begin until September 22nd.  Today’s graphic lays out some Labor Day facts with come current statistics.  As always, stay safe and have a Happy Friday and Labor Day weekend!!!

The latest S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index has reported a 1.5% annual increase for June, 2026.  Their 10-City Composite posted 2.9% increase year-over-year and their 20-City Composite posted a 2.1% year-over-year increase.  They say for the 13th consecutive month, U.S. home values fell in real terms, as June’s 3.5% inflation rate ran roughly 2 percentage points above the 1.1% home price gain. “Homeowners and renters alike breathed a sigh of relief in June as inflation cooled to 3.5%, while the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index posted a 1.5% annual gain, up from a 1.2%…

A recent Daily-Download chart from HousingWire shows us a snapshot of the national single family inventory.  Notice the current 2026 line in the top middle where they show a 1.28% year-over-year increase.

Zillow says there were more than 300k vacant lots of five acres or less listed for sale on their site in June, representing 17.4% of all listings. They suggest that building one home on each could reduce the national housing deficit by 6.3%, to about 4.44 million homes. With the typical lot measuring 0.57 acres, the impact could be even greater.  However, they say the challenge is making it feasible to build. Policies that loosen zoning rules, streamline permitting or expand access to financing would help reduce the cost and uncertainty that hold construction back. The five states with the…

A recent report from Redfin says in the U.S., the typical working family buying a home could spend roughly half (52%) of their annual income on housing and childcare combined. However, they also point out that where a family lives can dramatically change how much of their budget goes toward these two major expenses. A few key points: Where a family lives can change the affordability equation. Childcare costs can ease as children enter public pre-K or kindergarten. Lower-cost metros in the Midwest and South have housing and childcare that consume a smaller share of income. Click here to read…

According to the latest Cotality Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), U.S. single-family home rental prices increased 1.5% year over year in June, 2026.  Interestingly, they say this is a decrease from last year’s annual increase of 2.5%. However, monthly rent growth has been increasing at a typical seasonal pattern for most of 2026 after a year of below-trend growth.  Nationally, rent growth continues to be strongest in the Midwest, where Chicago led price growth at 5%, followed by Detroit (3.4%), Philadelphia (3.2%), New York (2.8%), and Atlanta (1.2%). “National single-family rent growth increased to 1.5% in June, marking the fourth consecutive…