Small projects valued below $20,000 registered 74. Moderate projects of at least $20,000 but less than $50,000 rose four points to 73, while projects valued at $50,000 or more declined three points to a still-positive 64.

Although the index covers remodeling broadly rather than roofing specifically, it points to stable conditions in a market that supports residential repair, maintenance and replacement work.

NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz attributed remodeling’s resilience to rising homeowner equity and an aging housing stock. Those forces are less directly tied to home sales and purchase mortgage rates than new construction, although elevated financing costs can still delay larger and more discretionary projects.

The forward outlook is cooler but remains positive. The RMI’s Future Indicators Index declined two points to 52, with leads and inquiries at 51 and remodeling backlogs at 54.

Houzz’s third-quarter Pro Industry Barometer offered a similar forward-looking signal. Construction firms’ Expected Business Activity Indicator rose three points to 61, driven by stronger expectations for project inquiries. New committed projects registered 60, while project backlogs averaged 6.1 weeks, unchanged from a year earlier.

That optimism should be balanced against weaker recent results. Houzz’s Recent Business Activity Indicator declined to 47 during the second quarter, meaning more firms reported deteriorating activity than improvement. Project inquiries registered 50, while new committed projects remained at 45.

Multifamily Powers New-Construction Growth

June’s new-construction report presented sharply different signals for the single-family and multifamily roofing markets.

Overall housing starts jumped 19% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.427 million units. The increase was powered by multifamily construction, which includes apartments and condominiums. Starts in buildings with two or more units surged 76.2% to an annualized pace of 532,000 and were 17.2% above June 2025.

Those projects are entering the construction pipeline rather than becoming immediately available for roof installation. Still, for roofing contractors that work on apartments, condominiums and mixed-use developments, the increase expands the potential pool of projects that could reach the roofing stage as construction progresses.

The existing multifamily pipeline is also substantial. Approximately 682,000 apartment units were under construction at the end of June, compared with 582,000 single-family homes. Those totals include projects at many stages and do not indicate how many are currently ready for roofing work.

The forward multifamily signal was less encouraging. Permits for buildings with two or more units declined 4.2% to an annualized rate of 496,000 and were 5.7% below June 2025. That suggests June’s surge in starts should not yet be treated as the beginning of a sustained expansion.

Single-family construction remained sluggish. Starts edged down 0.2% to an annual rate of 895,000 and were 3.2% lower than a year earlier. Single-family permits fell 2.4% to 871,000, signaling a softer pipeline of homes progressing toward construction.

Single-family completions increased 6.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 964,000. Completions represent homes reaching the end of construction, however, not homes newly arriving at the roofing stage. The monthly increase was also not statistically significant. 

Builder Confidence Remains Weak

The mixed construction data arrived as single-family builder confidence continued to deteriorate.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell two points to 34 in July and has remained below 40 for 15 consecutive months, the longest such stretch since 2012. Current sales conditions fell to 37, expectations for sales during the next six months declined to 43 and prospective-buyer traffic dropped to 23.

Builders are also using more concessions to generate sales. Thirty-seven percent reduced home prices in July, up from 35% in June, with an average reduction of 6%. Sales incentives were used by 63% of builders, marking the 16th consecutive month that the share remained at or above 60%.

The index measures the single-family market, not remodeling or multifamily construction. Still, it reinforces the challenges facing residential development as elevated mortgage rates, expensive land, material costs and skilled-labor shortages constrain builders and buyers.

“The newly enacted housing bill includes key provisions to help builders increase supply, including streamlined regulations and incentives for local zoning reforms, but it will take time for these measures to take effect," said Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio.

Materials Remain a Margin Concern

Material costs remain one of the most important variables for roofing contractors to manage across replacement, remodeling and new construction.

In NAHB’s remodeling survey, 74% of respondents said suppliers had increased material prices since March because of higher fuel costs. The reported increases averaged 6.7%. The survey does not isolate roofing products such as shingles, membranes or underlayments, but it illustrates the broader cost environment facing contractors.

Houzz found that rising product and material costs were the most frequently cited challenge among construction firms, reported by 40%. Raising prices or rates was also the most common response, at 40%, followed by becoming more selective about project sizes and budgets, at 34%.

For roofers, those findings reinforce the importance of limited-duration proposals, material-escalation provisions and disciplined estimating. Even when lead flow remains healthy, mid-single-digit supplier increases can quickly erode margins when they are not reflected in project pricing.