Framing Contractors (U.S.) — NAICS 238130

1. Overview

Framing contractors build the skeleton of a building — the wood or light-gauge-steel structure of floors, walls, and roofs that everything else (drywall, roofing, windows, finishes) is fastened to. They are specialty-trade subcontractors: they rarely own the project, they are hired by a homebuilder, developer, or general contractor to erect the frame, and they are paid by the square foot, by the house, or by the job.[1] It is one of the most labor-intensive trades in construction and one of the most fragmented industries in the entire U.S. economy.

Framing sits at the front of the residential-construction cash cycle and is a near-pure play on U.S. homebuilding. When single-family and multifamily building rises, framers are the first trade on site; when higher interest rates cool building, they feel it first. But this is overwhelmingly a private-market industry, and the way to get exposure is unusual. Almost no one owns a framing contractor through the public stock market — the trade is small, local, and closely held. Private investors reach it directly, by owning, building, or financing an operating company, which is where most of the money and most of the risk actually sit. Public-market investors reach it indirectly, through the companies that sell to framers (truss and panel makers, connector manufacturers, lumber producers) and the homebuilders that hire them.

The investment case is simple to state and cyclical in practice: framing is essential to construction, the market is highly fragmented, and labor and local relationships decide who wins. The risks are the mirror image: housing cycles, interest rates, wage and labor-supply pressure, lumber-price volatility, thin margins, safety incidents, rework, and customer concentration.

2. What it is and how it's structured

Scope. NAICS (the North American Industry Classification System) code 238130 covers establishments primarily doing structural framing and sheathing "using materials other than structural steel or concrete." That includes wood framing, cold-formed light-gauge steel framing, post-frame ("pole barn") construction, and the on-site fabrication and installation of wood trusses and other components. The work spans new construction, additions, alterations, maintenance, and repairs.[1]

The main business segments are:

• Single-family residential framing for production and custom builders.
• Multifamily and light-commercial wood or light-gauge-steel framing.
• Remodeling, additions, repairs, and disaster reconstruction (often contracted directly with the property owner).
• Component-oriented work — wall panels, roof trusses, floor systems, and engineered wood.

What it excludes (adjacent NAICS codes an investor should not conflate with it):

• 238120 — Structural Steel and Precast Concrete Contractors: erecting structural steel or precast concrete frames. Heavy structural steel is not 238130.[1]
• 321214 — Truss Manufacturing: building trusses, wall panels, and engineered components in a factory. On-site component fabrication is 238130; off-site factory production is manufacturing.
• 238160 — Roofing; 238310 — Drywall and Insulation; 238350 — Finish Carpentry: trades that follow framing.
• 236115 / 236116 / 236117 — Residential building construction: the homebuilders and general contractors who hire framers.

Ownership mix. This is a trade of owner-operators. The typical firm is a local crew-based business — a founder, a few lead carpenters, and field labor — running on trucks, hand and pneumatic tools, and modest equipment. Barriers to entry are low, so the population churns with the housing cycle. Ownership is almost entirely private and closely held; there is no meaningful public-company or franchise layer at the installation level, and a smaller number of regional platforms and vertically integrated distributors sit above it. Federal data do not publish a family-owned / private-equity / corporate / government ownership split for this industry, but the concentration figures in Section 3 confirm the qualitative picture. Consolidation, where it exists, is happening one rung up the supply chain in factory-made components (see Section 8).

3. How big it is

Federal statistics for the employer side of the industry. These combine 2023 County Business Patterns (CBP) with the 2022 Economic Census and should not be read as a single-year series:

Those figures describe an atomized industry. Average receipts work out to roughly $2.2 million per firm, the average establishment has about 7 employees, and average payroll runs near $58,000 per worker — all derived from the federal totals above.[2][3] Concentration confirms it. A concentration ratio (CR) is the combined revenue share of the largest firms: the top four (CR4) hold just 5.9%, the top eight 9.0%, the top 20 16.0%, and the top 50 only 25.1%. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) — a standard concentration measure that runs up to 10,000 — is 20, about as close to textbook perfect competition as any industry in the economy gets.[3] Local concentration in a given metro can be far higher than these national figures. An independent industry estimate (IBISWorld's "Wood Framing" report) puts the market somewhat larger, around $31.5 billion in 2025, reflecting a later year and a slightly different scope, and likewise finds no company holding more than about 5% share.[6]

The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) size standard for the industry is just $19 million in average annual receipts, meaning essentially every firm in it qualifies as a small business.[4]

The undercount caveat — important here. These federal counts capture only employer businesses. CBP excludes the self-employed, businesses without payroll or without an employer identification number, and most government workers, and the Census Bureau does not estimate establishment undercoverage.[5] For framing specifically, the more important gap is the very large population of non-employer framers: self-employed carpenters and small crews with no payroll, plus workers paid as 1099 "independent contractors" or through labor brokers rather than as employees. Framing also relies heavily on an immigrant workforce (see Section 6), some of it off the books. So the true number of people and micro-businesses doing framing work is materially larger than the ~13,000 firms and ~87,000 payroll employees the employer statistics show; the dollar figure for output is more reliable than the head-count of businesses. The federal file does not provide non-employer receipts, average contract size, capacity utilization, or industry-specific margins — those metrics are omitted rather than estimated here.

4. The investable universe

There is no large, clean, publicly traded pure-play framing contractor. The installation trade is private and small — virtually the entire industry sits under the SBA's $19 million size standard.[4] Public-market investors therefore buy proxies: the companies that supply framers and the builders that hire them. These are adjacent bets, not the trade itself.

The cleanest listed reads on framing economics specifically are the component makers (BLDR, UFPI) and the connector maker (SSD), because their volumes track framing activity closely and they benefit directly from the shift toward factory-made components. Homebuilders and lumber producers move with the wider housing cycle. Two footnotes on the public side: PulteGroup owns Innovative Construction Group (ICG), an off-site framing-shell manufacturer (wall panels, trusses, floor systems, installation), though it is not separately disclosed as a pure play;[13] and 1847 Holdings (EFSH), a micro-cap holding company, signed a non-binding 2026 letter of intent to acquire a Southern California wood-framing and carpentry contractor — but the shares were suspended from NYSE American in April 2025 and are moving to the over-the-counter market, so this is a speculative, transaction-driven name rather than a clean proxy.[14]

Private owners and platforms are where the operating scale actually lives:

• US LBM — privately owned specialty building-materials distributor with engineered components and structural products; says it has completed 100-plus acquisitions.[15]
• 84 Lumber — privately held, family-owned supplier of materials and manufactured components, including roof trusses, wall panels, and engineered wood.[16]
• Carter Lumber — family-owned building-materials supplier with component plants producing wall panels and roof and floor trusses.[17]
• Asahi Kasei Homes — corporate owner of U.S. framing operators including Erickson Framing and the Focus Companies (Focus Framing).[18]
• US Framing — private operator that describes itself as the largest wood-framing contractor in North America (a company-reported claim, not independently verified here).[19]

5. How the money works

Framers are subcontractors selling labor and, sometimes, materials. The unit economics are simple to describe and hard to execute:

• Pricing basis — dollars per square foot. Residential framing is bid per square foot of floor area, adjusted for complexity (steep or cut-up roofs, vaults, and tall walls cost more). Installed framing typically runs about $8–$16 per square foot in most U.S. markets, with the labor portion around $4–$10 per square foot; union crews in high-cost metros push higher.[20][21] Jobs come in two shapes: labor-only (the builder buys the lumber, the framer just erects it) and turnkey / labor-and-material (the framer supplies the lumber too, marking it up thinly as a pass-through).
• Labor is the business. Framing is a throughput game measured in square feet or units completed per crew per week. Framers are commonly paid piece-rate (per square foot or per house), which ties labor cost to output and protects margins when a crew is fast. Payroll near $58,000 per worker against ~$335,000 of receipts per worker (both from the federal totals) shows how labor-driven and pass-through-heavy the revenue is.[2][3]
• Margins are thin. Framing gross margins commonly run about 10–20% of project cost; net margins after overhead are low single digits.[21] Contractors defend margin through crew productivity and through change orders (extra-work billings, often marked up 15–20%) when plans change mid-job.[20]
• Working capital and payment risk. Framers front payroll and (on turnkey jobs) lumber, then bill in progress draws. General contractors typically hold retainage (often 5–10%) until the job is done, and slow-pay or a builder insolvency can wipe out a season's profit. Mechanic's lien rights are the framer's main protection.
• Fixed-price lumber risk. On turnkey bids, a mid-job spike in lumber prices comes straight out of the framer's margin unless the contract has a price-escalation clause. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for lumber, plywood, and millwork is the standard federal gauge of this input-cost pressure.[34]
• Asset-light and cyclical. Low capital intensity plus low entry barriers make the industry easy to enter in a boom and brutal in a bust. There is little to sell in a downturn except tools and trucks, so firms simply shrink or fold.

For a private buyer, the diligence that matters is operational, and none of it appears in the federal data: backlog quality and bid-to-award conversion; revenue and gross profit per crew-day; labor productivity and turnover; material-price exposure and pass-through provisions; rework, warranty claims, and change-order recovery; homebuilder/GC concentration; receivables, retainage, and cash conversion; and safety history, insurance claims, bonding capacity, and licensing.

6. What drives demand

• New residential construction is the engine. Single-family and multifamily starts are the primary swing factor; new residential work is still just over half of industry revenue.[6] Full-year 2025 U.S. housing starts were about 1.36 million (single-family 943,000, down 6.9%; multifamily up 17.4%).[36] More recently, the Census Bureau put June 2026 starts at a 1.427 million seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), including 895,000 single-family, with permits running at a 1.367 million SAAR (871,000 single-family) — single-family cooling while multifamily holds up.[22]
• Interest and mortgage rates. Rates drive affordability, which drives starts. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.55% for the week ending July 16, 2026; higher financing costs delay purchases, trim builder starts, and defer large remodeling projects.[23]
• Repair, remodeling, and additions. Room additions, second stories, and renovations keep framers busy when new construction cools. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) expects residential remodeling to grow about 3% in 2026 and 2% in 2027 in inflation-adjusted terms.[24] An aging housing stock supports this: the median age of an owner-occupied U.S. home reached 41 years in 2023, and roughly 48% were built before 1980.[25]
• Light commercial and nonresidential wood/steel. Retail, offices, hospitality, and light-industrial buildings framed in wood or light-gauge steel add a stabilizing, less rate-sensitive layer.[6]
• Disaster reconstruction. Storms and wildfire both destroy structures (driving rebuild demand) and disrupt active jobsites. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) counted 27 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2024, with about $182.7 billion in losses.[35]
• Labor supply is a demand-shaping constraint. Framing depends heavily on immigrant labor — roughly a quarter of the construction workforce is foreign-born, and about 35% of carpenters and 43% of construction laborers.[26] With nearly nine in ten contractors reporting skilled-labor shortages and residential-building wages up mid-single digits year over year, labor scarcity both raises framers' prices and caps how much work crews can take on.[27] Intensified immigration enforcement in 2025 directly affected roughly 28% of construction firms, tightening framing labor further.[28]

7. Regulation

The regulatory burden is practical, local, and mostly about labor and safety:

• Workplace safety (OSHA). Falls are the leading cause of death in construction, and framing — working at height on open floors and roofs — is a top target of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforcement. Residential construction generally requires fall protection at six feet or more above lower levels under 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13), subject to specified alternatives and state-plan rules, with escalating fines for repeat violators.[30]
• Building codes drive the product. State and local adoption of the International Residential Code (IRC) and International Building Code, plus wind- and seismic-load requirements, dictate how frames are built and fastened — and directly create demand for engineered connectors and hold-downs (the Simpson Strong-Tie business). Enforceability depends on state and local adoption.[31]
• Permits and licensing vary by state. Some states license framing under a general or specialty-trade contractor category; many require no framing-specific license, which lowers the barrier to entry and reinforces fragmentation. Permits, inspections, workers'-compensation, insurance, and lien rules also differ materially by jurisdiction.
• Worker classification. Whether framers are employees or independent contractors is a live compliance and cost issue; the U.S. Department of Labor's "economic reality" test governs it, and misclassification triggers back-wage liability and penalties.[33]
• Public work — prevailing wage. The federal Davis-Bacon and Related Acts generally apply to federally funded or assisted construction contracts above $2,000 and require prevailing wages and fringe benefits for covered labor; many states have their own equivalents.[32]

For an investor, safety and compliance are not merely legal issues. A serious incident can raise insurance costs, interrupt projects, damage builder relationships, and impair bonding capacity.

8. Competitive dynamics and consolidation

The installation trade is close to perfectly competitive — an HHI of 20 and a top-four share under 6% — because barriers to entry are low and the work is local and relationship-driven.[3] A framer's moat is a reliable crew base, accurate estimating, safety performance, scheduling discipline, and builder relationships, not brand. Homebuilders keep rosters of preferred framing subs and, in "even-flow" production models, use their volume to press subcontractor pricing.

Where scale does help is in procurement, estimating software, component fabrication, insurance, compliance, and recruiting — which is why the consequential consolidation is happening above the framers, in factory-made components. Prefabricated truss penetration has climbed to an estimated 30–40% of the market, up from about 20% in 2016, and the shift toward off-site wall panels is following.[29] The roll-up is led by suppliers: Builders FirstSource acquired Trussway, Panel Truss, and Valley Truss in 2022, then bought 21 more companies from 2023 to 2025 and a wall-panel/truss supplier in January 2026;[29][7] UFP Industries runs 30-plus component plants.[8] On the operator side, corporate owners have picked up individual framers — Asahi Kasei Homes acquired Erickson Framing (2018) and 100% of the Focus Companies (2022)[18] — and even a listed micro-cap (1847 Holdings) targeted a ~$19-million-revenue Southern California framer in 2026, a near-perfect illustration of how small "consolidation" targets are at the labor-install layer.[14]

The likely model is regional, not national: acquire a strong local operator, centralize estimating and purchasing, add component or adjacent-trade capabilities, and expand into nearby markets. Integration risk stays high because crews, foremen, owner relationships, and local code knowledge are hard to standardize. For framers, prefabrication is double-edged: it moves labor off the job site (shrinking on-site scope) but also turns framers into installers of panels and trusses, changing the mix of what they sell.

9. Risks

• Housing cyclicality and rates. Revenue is tightly geared to starts; a rate-driven downturn hits framers first and hardest.[22][23]
• Labor scarcity and immigration enforcement. A structurally short, heavily foreign-born workforce plus stepped-up enforcement can strand projects and spike costs, and wage increases can outrun contracted price adjustments.[26][28]
• Lumber price volatility on fixed bids. Mid-job lumber spikes erode turnkey margins absent escalation clauses.[34]
• Thin margins and payment risk. Low single-digit net margins leave no cushion for a slow-paying GC, a retainage dispute, or a builder bankruptcy.[21]
• Execution risk. Rework, missed inspections, damaged materials, and schedule delays consume profit fast.
• Customer concentration. A local framer may depend heavily on a few builders, GCs, or developers.
• Safety and liability. Fall injuries, defects, and warranty claims drive OSHA penalties and insurance costs in a high-hazard trade.[30]
• Weather and catastrophe risk. Rain, heat, hurricanes, wildfire, and winter can halt work; post-disaster rebuilds can also create labor and material "demand surge."[35]
• Substitution. Continued panelization gradually erodes on-site framing-labor scope.[29]
• Data risk. Employer-based federal statistics undercount owner-operators and no-payroll firms, making market-size comparisons uncertain.[5]

10. How to invest and the outlook

Public-market routes (proxies, not the trade itself).

• Framing-component and hardware makers — Builders FirstSource (BLDR), UFP Industries (UFPI), and Simpson Manufacturing (SSD) — offer the closest listed read on framing volumes and benefit directly from prefabrication taking share.[7][8][9][29]
• Homebuilders (DHI, LEN, PHM, NVR) give demand-side exposure to the same housing cycle that sets framers' order books.[11][12]
• Lumber and OSB producers (WY, LPX) track the raw-material side.

The right comparison for these names is not simply revenue growth; it is exposure to starts, remodeling, labor productivity, material costs, component adoption, working capital, and acquisition execution. Tickers, dividend yields, and valuation multiples belong to these listed proxies — framing contractors themselves have none.

Private-market routes (where the industry actually lives). Direct ownership is the real way in: buying, building, or backing a local or regional framing company; running a platform that combines framing with trusses, wall panels, or complementary trades; extending private credit against receivables, equipment, or contracted backlog; or owning building-materials distributors with structural-component capabilities. Because the SBA size standard is only $19 million in receipts, virtually every target is small-business scale, typically acquired through SBA-backed or seller-financed deals rather than institutional buyouts.[4] Private-equity roll-ups have concentrated at the component and distribution layer (trusses, panels, engineered wood) rather than the labor-install layer, and early-stage capital is flowing into off-site framing and panelization. An owner-operator's returns come from crew productivity, disciplined bidding, lumber-risk management, and steady builder relationships — not from multiple expansion.

Outlook. Near-term demand is mixed and leans soft on the single-family side: current single-family starts (about 895,000 SAAR in June 2026) are running below their 2025 pace, and mortgage rates near 6.5% keep affordability tight, so framing volumes should be flattish to modestly lower until rates ease.[22][23][36] Remodeling is a steadier — though still cyclical — stabilizer, supported by an aging housing stock.[24][25] The medium-term setup is more constructive: chronic skilled-labor scarcity and immigration pressure should keep upward pressure on framing prices and wages, supporting revenue per job even as they squeeze margins and cap capacity — and they strengthen the long-run case for prefabrication and light-gauge steel. That is why the listed component suppliers, rather than the framers, are where most public-market upside concentrates, while the strongest private candidates are regional operators with diversified customers, disciplined bidding, reliable crews, strong safety records, and some ability to pass through material costs. There is no federal NAICS 238130 earnings forecast, so any industry outlook beyond these demand indicators is editorial judgment rather than reported data.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau / NAICS. "2022 NAICS Definition: 238130 Framing Contractors" (scope, inclusions, cross-references). https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=238130&year=2022
2. U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns, 2023 — establishments, paid employees, annual and Q1 payroll for NAICS 238130. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
3. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census — receipts, firm count, concentration ratios (CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50) and HHI for NAICS 238130. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
4. U.S. Small Business Administration. Table of Size Standards (13 CFR 121.201) — NAICS 238130, $19 million average annual receipts. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-13/chapter-I/part-121/section-121.201
5. U.S. Census Bureau. "County Business Patterns Methodology" (coverage and undercount limitations). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/technical-documentation/methodology.html
6. IBISWorld. "Wood Framing in the US — Market Size," 2025. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-size/wood-framing/
7. Builders FirstSource (BLDR). 2025 Form 10-K and revenue history (trusses, wall panels, Ready-Frame; acquisitions). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001316835&type=10-K
8. UFP Industries / UFP Site Built (UFPI). "Offsite Structural Components." https://ufpsitebuilt.com/
9. Simpson Manufacturing (SSD). "Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Financial Results." https://www.simpsonmfg.com/investor-relations
10. The Home Depot (HD). 2025 Form 10-K (SRS distribution; steel framing and construction products). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000354950&type=10-K
11. D.R. Horton (DHI). 2025 Form 10-K (substantially all construction subcontracted). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000882184&type=10-K
12. Lennar (LEN). 2024 Form 10-K (homebuilding; outsourced construction). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000920760&type=10-K
13. PulteGroup (PHM). "Innovative Construction Group (ICG) acquisition" (off-site framing shells). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000822416&type=8-K
14. 1847 Holdings (EFSH). "LOI to Acquire Southern California Wood-Framing and Carpentry Contractor," 2026 (note: shares suspended from NYSE American April 2025, moving to OTC). https://www.stocktitan.net/news/EFSH/
15. US LBM. "Our Business" (specialty building-materials distribution; 100+ acquisitions). https://uslbm.com/about/business/
16. 84 Lumber. "About 84 Lumber" (trusses, wall panels, engineered wood). https://www.84lumber.com/about/
17. Carter Lumber. "Trusses & Wall Panels" / "Company Info." https://www.carterlumber.com/manufacturing/trusses-wallpanels
18. Asahi Kasei. "Asahi Kasei Homes Acquires Focus Companies," 2022 (and prior Erickson Framing acquisition, 2018). https://www.asahi-kasei.com/news/2022/e221102/
19. US Framing. "US Framing's Expertise in Large Wood Framing Projects" (company-reported scale claim), 2022. https://usframing.com/2022/05/17/introducing-us-framings-expertise-in-large-wood-framing-projects/
20. EB3 Construction. "Framing Labor per Square Foot: Is Your Commercial Bid Reasonable?" 2025. https://blog.eb3construction.com/construction/project-management/framing-labor-per-square-foot-commercial-bid-2/
21. Wexford Insurance. "Framing Contractor Pricing Guide," 2025. https://www.wexfordins.com/post/framing-contractor-pricing-guide
22. U.S. Census Bureau. "Monthly New Residential Construction, June 2026" (starts and permits, SAAR). https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/current/index.html
23. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). "30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States." https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US
24. National Association of Home Builders. "2026 Housing Outlook" (remodeling growth). https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2026/02/2026-housing-outlook
25. National Association of Home Builders. "Remodeling Market Poised for Growth as the Age of Owner-Occupied Homes Increases" (median age 41 years; ~48% pre-1980), 2025. https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2025/05/remodeling-market-poised-for-growth
26. National Association of Home Builders. "Concentration of Immigration in Construction Trades," 2025. https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/industry-issues/labor-and-employment/immigration-reform-is-key-to-building-a-skilled-workforce/concentration-of-immigration-in-construction-trades
27. Fixr.com. "Construction Labor Shortages, Wages, and Worker Conditions in 2025." https://www.fixr.com/articles/construction-industry-labor-report
28. Construction Dive. "The US may already have a negative immigration rate. That's bad for construction," 2025. https://www.constructiondive.com/news/immigration-rate-construction-workers-labor-shortage-trades/817865/
29. In Practise. "Builders FirstSource and the US Truss Manufacturing Market," 2025 (truss penetration; BLDR acquisitions). https://inpractise.com/articles/us-truss-manufacturing-market-offsite-fabrication-penetration-rate
30. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). "Fall Protection in Residential Construction" (29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13)); Region 5 framing-contractor enforcement release, 2024. https://www.osha.gov/residential-fall-protection
31. International Code Council. "2024 International Residential Code — Chapter 6, Wall Construction." https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2024P2/chapter-6-wall-construction
32. U.S. Department of Labor. "Davis-Bacon and Related Acts — Construction." https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction
33. U.S. Department of Labor. "Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act," Federal Register, 2024. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/01/10/2024-00067/employee-or-independent-contractor-classification-under-the-fair-labor-standards-act
34. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Producer Price Indexes" (lumber, plywood, millwork input costs). https://www.bls.gov/ppi/
35. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Assessing the U.S. Climate in 2024" (27 billion-dollar disasters; $182.7B losses). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202413
36. National Association of Home Builders — Eye on Housing. "Overall Housing Starts Inch Lower in 2025," Feb 2026. https://eyeonhousing.org/2026/02/overall-housing-starts-inch-lower-in-2025/