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ConstructConnect and Oxford Economics raised their 2026 nonresidential building forecast to 8.7% growth, but nearly the entire $78 billion increase in commercial construction traces to data centers, while manufacturing falls 43% and residential starts drop 10.5%.
KB Home opened the first phase of Sandstone, a nearly 300-acre master plan in North Las Vegas, Nev., that will hold more than 1,500 homes priced from the $300,000s β the builder’s largest new-home community in 10 years.
An NBC News Decision Desk Poll released Sept. 6 found 69% of Americans oppose AI data center construction in their local area β including 57% of Republicans β as entitlement risk becomes the binding constraint on the largest growth category in U.S. nonresidential construction.
The August Employment Situation report beat forecasts by a wide margin and revised June and July higher, pushing the Federal Reserve further from a rate cut. Construction added 22,000 jobs, with residential trades gaining and nonresidential building slipping.
Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 Data Center Development Cost Guide puts all-in greenfield cost at $17.6 million per megawatt in the U.S. and Canada, up 21% since late 2024, with power infrastructure the largest single line item and powered land up 51% year over year.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte ended a four-month limited rollout and instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept VantageScore 4.0 from every lender, effective immediately. Fair Isaac shares fell 16% on Friday as investors weighed the first real competition to FICO in mortgage underwriting.
Multifamily buildings took an average of 18.9 months from permit to completion in 2025, 0.7 months faster than 2024 but nearly seven months longer than the 2013 low, according to NAHB’s analysis of Census Survey of Construction data.
Investors accounted for 27% of U.S. single-family home purchases between March and June, down from 28%, Cotality reported. The headline share barely moved, but the volume underneath it did: investors bought about 40,000 fewer homes than a year earlier, and the largest landlords accounted for a quarter of that drop.
Maryland opened applications Sept. 4 for First Homes for First Responders and Teachers, offering eligible first-time buyers a rate half a point below standard Maryland Mortgage Program pricing plus a 5% interest-free deferred loan for down payment and closing costs.
Mortgage rates reached a 13-month high, new listings hit their highest level since 2022, construction spending slipped again, and Rocket named a new chief executive at Redfin. Here are the eight stories that shaped the week in real estate.
A holiday-shortened week with one release that matters: August CPI lands Friday morning, the last major inflation reading before the Fed meets Sept. 15-16. Fed officials are in blackout all week, so the data will have to speak for itself.
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate average at 6.71% for the week ending Sept. 3, the highest since July 2025, as long-term government bond yields climbed in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
New listings climbed 8% year over year to the most since August 2022, but demand stayed flat as mortgage rates crept back toward 7%, according to Redfin data for the four weeks ending Aug. 30.
AHR took ownership of six of eight Kensington Senior Living communities for about $572 million, pushing year-to-date investments past $2 billion, and named Public Storage’s Aric Chang chief financial officer a day later.
The Scion Group and funds managed by Ares Real Estate acquired four off-campus communities serving Texas State, Georgia and Tennessee from SCHENK+ affiliates, the pair’s second student housing portfolio together this year.
MBA’s survey for the week ending Aug. 28 showed applications up 0.8% as the 30-year conforming rate hit a four-week high of 6.79%, refinancing fell and the ARM share rose to 8%.
NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index for the second quarter shows single-family construction contracting almost everywhere while apartment building concentrates in large metro cores and suburbs.
Redfin data published Wednesday shows San Francisco’s median sale price up 6% to $1.6 million with inventory down 18.4%, while Seattle’s price fell 3.6% and listings rose 16.7% β a split the brokerage ties to where AI money is landing.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service will launch a First Look status on Sept. 4 that hides days on market and price cuts for up to 21 days while keeping listings open to all 30,000-plus member brokers, resolving Compass’s antitrust suit.
H.R. 10184 would move the CFPB onto congressional appropriations, cut the maximum daily penalty for a knowing violation from $1 million to $50,120, raise the bank supervision threshold to $30 billion and narrow nonbank oversight of mortgage lenders.
U.S. construction spending fell 0.5% in July to a $2.16 trillion annual rate, with residential work down 7.3% from a year ago while private office construction β the category that captures data centers β climbed 21.3%.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Hunt Midwest have formed a joint venture, Two-Point Development, to serve as master developer for mixed-use districts around the club’s new Kansas City, Kan., stadium and its future Olathe, Kan., headquarters.
Rocket Companies has named Alessio Sanfilippo, most recently a Meta vice president, chief executive of Redfin effective immediately, filling a seat vacant since Glenn Kelman left in January.
Zillow says a record 78,000-plus renters had on-time payments reported to credit bureaus in July, as its analysis of federal data shows thin credit files are now the leading reason conventional mortgage applications are denied.
A hawkish Jackson Hole debut, sticky PCE inflation, a 10.5% drop in new home sales and the end of RE/MAX as an independent company β the week’s biggest real estate stories in one place.
Gail Liniger, who co-founded RE/MAX in Denver in 1973 and served as its chief executive from 1991, has died at 81 β three days after the franchisor became a subsidiary of Real REMAX Group.
Construction spending Tuesday, Freddie Mac’s rate survey Thursday and the August jobs report Friday β the last full data week before the Fed’s September meeting.
Velocity Financial will acquire Toorak Capital’s business-purpose lending platform for $63 million in cash while a third-party investor buys Toorak’s $3 billion loan portfolio, in transactions valued at about $3.2 billion.
In his first Jackson Hole keynote as Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh acknowledged housing is showing strains but said financial conditions are not restrictive and the Fed’s focus belongs on 3.7% inflation.
Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed-rate average rose one basis point to 6.66% this week, a third straight near-flat reading, as the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium opened and new listings hit a four-month high.
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