From left: Reps. Janelle Bynum (D-OR) and Mike Flood (R-NE) discuss housing initiatives with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Mike Flood during the Nov. 6 "Building for Growth Summit" in Washiington By Craig Webb, President, Webb Analytics Fifty-year mortgages? If you really want to build more homes, how about zoning changes, better building codes, and quicker permitting instead? Affordability's emergence as a key topic in the mid-term elections, combined with President Trump's

DEALERS 84 Lumber -- Todd Beaman -- OSR 84 Lumber -- Casey Lemoi -- Installed Sales Trim Manager ABC Supply -- Jim O'Donnell -- Sales Rep, Pottstown, PA Builders FirstSource -- Donald Crumpler -- VP Supply Chain Operations Builders FirstSource -- Donald Milburn -- Emerald Coast Area Operations Manager Builders FirstSource -- Keith Trevillian -- Market Manager, Sioux Falls, SD Cain Hardware & Lumber -- Buddy Stewart -- Store Manager DEALERS Capps Home Building Center -- Tyler

The map below would lead you to think this has been a robust year for dealmaking in construction supply. But that's if you only care about the number of locations acquired--and indeed, the 1,762 facilities that changed hands this year dwarfs anything since at least 2018. But viewed in two other ways, the picture changes dramatically. The table at right shows that the actual number of deals recorded by Webb Analytics year to date is as little as half what we've seen in any of

By Craig Webb, President, Webb Analytics The Home Improvement Research Institute’s (HIRI) annual Insights Summit is a numbers geek’s delight—and a must-attend for people who want insights into what’s happening with the economy and likely will happen over the next few years. Given our crazy times, the forecasts given Oct. 22-23 were fuzzier than usual, but they still represented far more expert outlooks than you can find at most events. Here are highlights. What Bugs Remodeler