A majority of builders agree that building a home is 15% more expensive now than it was this time last year.
According to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) July 2026 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), builders feel the pain of these increases, but especially the smaller builders.
The HMI results aligned with reality, with 28.4% of builders reporting that common material prices increased by 5% to 9.99%. Analysis of July’s PPI indicated that the price of goods increased 6.7% year over year.
“Not all builders experienced the same increase, however,” said Paul Emrath, Ph.D., vice president for survey and housing policy research at NAHB. “According to the HMI survey, the median annual increase in material prices declines regularly with the size of the builder: from a high of 9.1% for builders who started 5 or fewer homes in 2025, down to only 1.8% for builders with 100 or more starts.”
The difference in scale can make costs more predictable for larger-scale builders, who can stockpile when increases are expected and work out deals with preferred manufacturers.
