Single-Family Home Builders NAICS 236115

Feb 13, 2026 - Builders Pitch Policies to Ease Oversupply of New Homes

• Home builders facing the largest glut of unsold homes since 2010 are pitching new policy ideas to the White House to clear excess inventory, according to The Wall Street Journal. Builders' policy ideas include streamlined federal permitting, zoning incentives, expanded FHA access, and a federally backed rent-to-own program to help buyers who cannot afford today’s prices and interest rates. The proposals reflect mounting pressure as high costs, limited affordability, and new restrictions on private investors leave builders with too much inventory and fewer buyers. The industry is also trying to align with Trump administration officials who have criticized both builders and Wall Street landlords. While rent-to-own could help move excess supply, questions remain about enforcement, consumer protections, and whether builders could quickly ramp up construction afterward.
• Custom home building starts increased in the third quarter of 2025, according to National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) analysis of US Census Bureau data. In the third quarter, custom home building starts totaled 51,000, up 6% from Q3 2024. Over the last four quarters, there were 187,000 custom home starts, which is 5% higher than the previous four-quarter total of 178,000. The custom home market is less sensitive to interest rates than other types of home building, but is more affected by shifts in household wealth and stock market performance. Custom homes have gained market share as the spec home building market has slumped and stocks have risen.

• The Trump administration is intensifying scrutiny of stock buybacks by major home builders, according to The Wall Street Journal. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has warned that companies repurchasing shares instead of lowering prices or boosting construction could face penalties. Pulte argues that builders have kept prices elevated while spending heavily on buybacks, and he signaled that access to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac liquidity should not support practices that fail to help Americans buy homes. The comments come as the administration pushes an affordability agenda and mirrors its recent restrictions on defense-sector buybacks. Builders, which collectively spent billions on repurchases in 2025, say high interest rates, economic uncertainty, and local regulations have constrained activity.
• The most daunting challenge faced by US home builders in 2025 was high interest rates, according to the most recent NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey. About 84% of builders surveyed said high interest rates were a significant problem in 2025, and 65% expect it to remain so in 2026. The second most cited problem in 2025, at 81% of builders, was buyers expecting prices or interest rates to fall if they wait to purchase, and 74% expect the issue to persist in 2026. Other top headwinds builders faced in 2025 include buyer concern about employment/economic situation (65% of builders), cost and availability of developed lots (63%), negative media reports making buyers cautious (62%), and cost and availability of labor 61%).