An awakening giant? Direct costs

The National Association of Home Builders economics department posts a sobering reminder that, even as the new-home market recovers, doing business in the arena will remain a dicey proposition. New NAHB data indicates, "more than three-fourths of the builders expect building materials prices to be one of their significant problems expected in 2013, up substantially from 46 percent in 2012 and 33 percent in 2011. Second is cost/availability of labor, a significant problem 51% of builders expect to face in 2013, up from 30% who said they faced the problem in 2012 and only 13% in 2011. Nearly half of the builders expect cost/availability of developed lots to be a significant problem. Running profitably in such an environment is not a slam dunk.

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