Labor Shortage Putting a Dent in Results of Large Home Builders

According to the Wall Street Journal, PulteGroup blamed its 6 percent decline in finalized sales in the third quarter primarily on the dearth of workers needed to finish projects in time.

“While construction-labor shortages have dogged the home-building industry for much of the industry’s recovery, those deficits are becoming more acute this year as home buyers emboldened by a stronger economy are ordering more homes,” real estate reporter Kris Hudson writes in the Wall Street Journal.

“I think [labor shortages are] going to be a recurring theme,” Thomas Lawler, an independent housing-market analyst based in Leesburg, Va., told the Journal. “But I don’t think you’ll see it for an extended period of time provided that underlying demand [for homes] remains OK and the builders are willing to pay more.”

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