The Asheville Home Builders Association (AHBA) and the AHBA’s Government Affairs Committee will host a special Housing & Economic Outlook event on Thursday, April 20 for its members, local businesses and community leaders. This event will welcome NAHB’s Chief Economist Robert Dietz, Ph.D. as its keynote speaker. Dietz will provide valuable insight on what is on the horizon for Asheville’s home building market and local economic housing forecast.
Detailing local and national data, Dietz will discuss the current macroeconomic environment, explain why supply-side constraints are limiting homebuilding growth, prove why demographics should produce significant residential construction growth in the years ahead, and finally provide estimates of the local economic impact of home building on jobs and tax revenue. The discussion of supply-side factors will include current market data on the labor shortage, national lot availability, current AD&C lending conditions, and recent gains in lumber prices.
In preparation for this event, a local economic impact study was conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Policy Department which portrays the significance of the impact local home builders have on Asheville’s economy. These figures show the importance of the home building industry based on the generated local economic activity, including new income, jobs for residents, and additional revenue for local governments.
The AHBA expects a sold-out event with over 150 attendees. The event will open with a thirty minute networking reception followed by Dietz’s presentation and Q&A from the audience. Advanced tickets are required and available at www.AshevilleHBA.com.
The AHBA is a non-profit professional trade organization providing an educational voice and promoting excellence within the building industry. As the 4th largest Home Builders Association in North Carolina, the Asheville HBA is made up of 675 professionals representing over 550 local businesses.
Since the Economic Impact Study was initially developed in 1996, NAHB has successfully used this model to estimate the impacts of construction in over 800 across the country. The report presents estimates of the metro area impacts of home building in Asheville, NC. To fully understand the economic impact residential construction has on a local area, it is important to include the ripple effects and the ongoing benefits.
More about Robert Dietz, PhD: Dietz is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of economics and housing policy for NAHB. His responsibilities include housing market analysis, economic forecasting and industry surveys, and housing policy research. Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Dietz worked as an economist for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, specializing in revenue estimation of legislative proposals involving housing, urban development and other business tax issues. He is a native of Dayton, Ohio and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Ohio State University in 2003.
