What's Happened To New Home Building?

The Tri-Cities new home construction sector slogged through some of the wettest weather on record during the fourth quarter of 2018, a softwood shortage during a trade spat with Canada, increasing material costs and a labor shortage with a 5 percent decline from 2017. At the beginning of the year, everything was pointing toward a 7 percent increase in new home permits. The biggest fall-off came in Washington County, which still managed to dominate the market in the seven-county Northeast Tennessee region.