The June 2026 Quarterly Survey of Construction & Development Activity (Construction Quarterly Survey) was conducted from June 6-18, 2026 and received 60 responses from leading multifamily construction and development firms.
Historical data from each of our surveys can be found as downloadable spreadsheets on our website.
Construction Indicators Q2 2026 (% of Respondents)
Starts
55%
Reported starts
to be unchanged
Delays
3%
Reported increase
in delays
Pricing
55%
Saw deals
repriced
Labor
67%
Reported labor
costs unchanged
Inputs
50%
Reported material
costs unchanged
Most respondents report unchanged or fewer delays
A majority of builders and developers that responded to NMHC's June 2026 Construction Quarterly Survey (55% of respondents) reported that multifamily starts were unchanged compared to three months ago. Meanwhile, 42% of respondents were nearly split between those who thought starts had increased (22%) and those who thought starts had decreased (20%).
How would you characterize the number of multifamily projects your firm is starting currently?
For projects already started, only 3% of respondents reported experiencing more construction delays compared to three months ago. A majority of respondents reported either fewer construction delays compared to three months ago (20% of respondents; down from 31% in March) or relatively unchanged levels of delays (63%).
Labor costs ease relative to rising inflation while material costs increase
Eighteen percent of respondents thought that the cost of construction labor decreased or increased at a slower rate than overall inflation over the past three months compared to just 8% who thought the cost of labor increased faster than the rate of inflation. Two-third (67%) of respondents, meanwhile, reported that labor costs increased at about the same rate as inflation compared with three months ago.
Construction material costs continued to rise. Half of respondents (50%) reported material costs increasing at roughly the same rate as inflation. Meanwhile, the share reporting costs rising faster than inflation more than doubled, from 10% to 22%, while of the share of respondents that reported material costs decreasing or growing more slowly than inflation decreased from 24% in March to 22% this month.
How do costs of construction labor and materials compare with three months ago?
| Material Costs | Labor Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs have increased faster than the rate of inflation | 22% | 8% |
| Costs have decreased or increased at a slower rate than overall inflation | 22% | 18% |
| Costs are relatively unchanged / have increased at about the same rate as inflation | 50% | 67% |
| N/A | 7% | 7% |
Respondents expect material costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation over the coming year.
More specifically, over the next three months, 17% of respondents expect costs to increase faster than inflation compared to 12% who expect material costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation; over the next 3-6 months, 22% of respondents expect material costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation compared to 8% who expect costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation; and, over the next 6-12 months, 27% of respondents expect material costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation compared to 15% who expect material costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation.
Meanwhile, a majority of respondents believe that material costs will increase in line with overall inflation across all time periods—68% over the next 3 months, 65% over the next 3-6 months, and 51% over the next 6-12 months.
On construction labor, however, respondents anticipate further easing in the near term followed by more substantial cost increases in 6-12 months.
Over the next three months, 21% of respondents expect labor costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation compared to 9% who expect labor costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation; over the next 3-6 months, 23% of respondents expect labor costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation compared to 13% who expect labor costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation; and, over the next 6-12 months,19% of respondents expect labor costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation compared to 24% who expect costs to increase faster than the rate of inflation.
Again, across all time periods, a majority of respondents believe labor costs will increase at about the same rate as inflation—69% of respondents over the next three months, 60% over the next 3-6 months, and 53% of respondents over the next 6-12 months.
Similar to labor, respondents expect overall construction costs to ease in the near term and then grow faster than inflation over the 6-12-month horizon.
Over the next three months, 22% of respondents expect overall construction costs to decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation compared to 7% who expect construction costs will increase faster than the rate of inflation; over the next 3-6 months, 17% of respondents expect construction costs will decrease or increase at a slower rate than inflation compared to 17% who expect costs to increase faster than inflation; and, over the next 6-12 months, just 15% of respondents think construction costs will decrease/increase slower than inflation compared to 36% who think costs will outpace inflation.
Respondents remain optimistic in long-term outlook, but less so than last quarter
Despite expectations that costs will increase in the next 6-12 months, respondents continued to express optimism in their outlook on general market conditions.
The majority of respondents (77%) expect multifamily construction conditions to remain the same over the next three months, while 10% expect improvement and 13% anticipate decline. Looking further ahead, respondents were more positive in their outlook: 46% expect conditions to improve over the next 6–12 months (down from 68% in March) compared to 14% who expect conditions to decline (up from 5% in March) and 35% who expect conditions to remain the same.
This longer-term optimism may be driven in part by expectations for improved financing conditions: 51% of respondents expect equity financing to become more available in 6-12 months (compared to 10% who think equity will become less available), and 28% of respondents expect debt financing to become more available over this period (compared to 7% who expect debt to become less available).
What are your expectations for the overall multifamily construction market over the next 3 months, 3-6 months, and 6-12 months?
| I expect conditions will improve (i.e., easier to build) | I expect conditions will decline | I expect conditions will remain the same | Don't know / N/A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over the next 3 months | 10% | 13% | 77% | 0% |
| Over the next 3-6 months | 14% | 16% | 71% | 0% |
| Over the next 6-12 months | 46% | 14% | 35% | 5% |
