What is the baseline cost to build a house?
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CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — If you wanted to build a home in 2021, you’re facing at least a $296,652 price tag, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
While that doesn’t seem like much, if you want to upgrade to better materials, add more rooms or even include a garage, the price will be much higher.
Lumber is now 10% more expensive than it was a year ago.
Windows, roofing, tiles, doors and steel are just some examples of home building materials that have grown 22% more expensive over the last year.
Paint is 11% more expensive than in the 4th quarter of 2020.
One estimate from Home Advisor concluded it costs between $100 and $200 for every square foot of your house.
So if you were looking to build an average single-family home with a standard square footage, you’re looking at least at $296,652.
But if you were looking to buy, instead of build, prices will dramatically increase.
Homes with a mortgage gained an average of $51,500 in equity in the second quarter, an increase of 29.3% from the April-June quarter last year, according to real estate information company CoreLogic. That’s the highest quarterly average gain in home equity since the second quarter of 2010, the firm said.
That works out to nearly $3 trillion in equity gained by U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, which is about 63% of all homes, CoreLogic said. Average homeowner equity jumped nearly 20% in the first quarter from a year earlier.
Home equity growth can have broad impacts on the economy, giving homeowners more financial flexibility to spend on big purchases or build a nest egg. Rising home values also make it increasingly tougher for would-be homeowners to buy.
Homeowners in California, Washington state and Idaho saw among the biggest average equity increases in the second quarter: $116,000 in California, $103,000 in Washington state and $97,000 in Idaho.
In its most recent quarterly housing forecast, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac envisions home prices growing 5.3% next year, down from a projected 12.1% increase in 2021.