The Census Bureau tracks an index that measures the cost of new single-family home construction by surveying builders and making adjustments to account for house quality factors. Over the past decade, the index has risen over 25% overall but peaked in 2007 and has declined in recent years, falling 0.8% year-over-year in August and 0.4% from July. While the construction cost trend is similar to home price changes, home prices increased and decreased more sharply than the construction cost index from their peak levels.

1. Census Construction Cost Index
The Census Bureau has an index which looks at new single‐family homes under
construction. The measure comes from a survey and is adjusted statistically to attempt to
cover a “constant quality” of homes, making adjustments for things like house size,
construction methods, materials, and location, while excluding value of land and other
non‐construction costs.
Over the past decade the index is up just over 25 percent. Similar to home prices, the
index peaked in 2007 and has decreased the past few years. In August, year‐over‐year the
index is down 0.8 percent, and down 0.4 percent from July.
When comparing the index to home prices, the trend is fairly similar. However, home
prices rose more steeply and fell more severely from their peak levels.
Produced by NAR Research
October 22, 2010

2. http://www.census.gov/const/www/constpriceindex.html
Produced by NAR Research
Census Construction Cost Index