NAHB Completes Landmark 800th Local Impact Study | #Armonk Real Estate

n January, NAHB produced a study on the impact of home building in the nine-county Kansas City metropolitan area. Like earlier studies, the one for Kansas City estimated the income, jobs and taxes generated by home building activity in the area. However, the Kansas City study is especially notable because it marks the 800th such customized report NAHB has produced for various metropolitan areas, non-metropolitan counties, and states across the country since first offering this service late in 1996.

The map below illustrates the parts of the country covered by the 800 customized NAHB local impact studies. The darker green shading indicates studies covering metro areas or non-metro counties; the somewhat lighter orange shading indicates studies produced for an entire state.

Although a local market area analyzed by NAHB must be large enough to include places where construction workers live, and places where the new home occupants work and shop (most often, a metropolitan area or non-metropolitan county), the construction analyzed can be confined to a particular jurisdiction or development. Over the years, the studies have been used to help get individual projects approved, counter anti-growth proposals, and generate publicity for the local home building industry.

A customized report can be ordered by anyone willing to pay the fee and provide the inputs needed to run the NAHB model. For those lacking the time or resources, a study showing results for a typical or average local area is available immediately on line.

For example, this study shows that the estimated one-year local impacts of building 100 single-family homes in a typical metro area include

$21.1 million in local income,
$2.2 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments, and
324 local jobs.

And that the additional, annually recurring impacts resulting from the 100 single-family homes becoming occupied and the occupants paying taxes and otherwise participated in the local economy include

$3.1 million in local income,
$743,000 in taxes and other revenue for local governments, and
53 local jobs.

The typical local area report, along with instructions for ordering customized reports for a particular area, are available on NAHB’s local impact of home building web page. Readers are urged to check back periodically, as NAHB anticipates updating the information for a typical local area within the next two months. Readers with questions about the local impact estimates or how they’re generated may contact Paul Emrath in NAHB’s Housing Policy Department.