Dive Brief:

• It's a situation that some would consider ironic: A home-building recovery that is still moving in fits and starts has the kind of labor shortage that a full-blown boom would create.
• National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) economist Paul Emrath said the "incidence of reported shortages is now surprisingly high relative to the current state of new home construction," and NAHB found that two out of three builders say they are paying more than they did last year to keep the workers they have and three out of five cannot find everyone they need.
• The survey covered 12 home-building trades and, even though some areas were having no labor-supply problems, 41% of builders were having at least some problems getting the workers they need this year.

Dive Insight:

The labor issue is pushing up home prices and some builders told NAHB that they have lost sales or canceled jobs because of it. The average increase in direct-labor costs in the first half of this year was 2.9% and the average increase in subcontractor costs was 3.8%.