New home construction may be up, but supply-chain issues will continue to create drag on the housing market

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Homes labeled 'under construction' are often just sitting and waiting for the materials needed to complete the job, thanks to supply-chain delays.

Here’s a worrying tidbit that comes disguised as good news: More homes are under construction than at any time in the past five decades.

Hooray, right? After all, we’re in the midst of an epic housing shortage, in which home sellers hold most of the power and buyers feel compelled to compete with one another. About 1.6 million homes were under construction in March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — not far below the peak of 1.67 million in August 1973.

That’s what’s going on now. Builders can’t get their hands on enough supplies to finish homes, said Ali Wolf, chief economist for Zonda, a housing market research platform. Shortages of garage doors, windows, doors, heating and air-conditioning equipment, appliances and cabinets are delaying home completions, Wolf said in an email. And neither the building inspector nor the mortgage lender will let you move into an incomplete house, even when the only thing missing is a garage door.

But the repair of the supply chain, and its beneficial effects, will occur in slow motion, not in a surge. It’s not like a ship will dock in Long Beach, unload every door that’s on back order nationwide in one afternoon, and resolve that shortage instantly. Even if such a shipment were to arrive, there’s a finite supply of trucks to deliver the cargo and a limited number of skilled workers to hang the doors.

“We are always telling our buyers please be patient, we’re going to get you there,” Nunziata says. “We want them to move into the house and be extraordinarily happy with the product that we have delivered them,” even if that involves delays. Don’t miss: We spent over $100K trying to flip a ‘nightmare’ house. I want to sell, my husband wants to rent it out. Who’s right?

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