A resurgent U.S. housing and renovation market has Carlisle Wide Plank Floors looking to increase its workforce by 17% this year. Here's a Q&A with CEO Michael Stanek.

Prices for construction materials moved higher in January, propelled by large jumps in items used in new housing and nonresidential building renovations, according to an analysis of new federal figures released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that contractors were paying more for materials even as the pending federal spending “sequestration” threatens to cancel an estimated $4 billion worth of construction activity this year.

Nationwide housing remained affordable, amid stable house prices in the final quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

Exceptionally low interest rates helped ensure a slight gain in nationwide housing affordability amid relatively stable house prices in the final quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

Due to a double-digit dip on the typically volatile multifamily side, nationwide housing starts declined 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 units in January, according to newly released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, issuance of permits for new-home construction rose 1.8 percent to 925,000 units - the quickest pace since mid-2008.

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Looking at proposed capital and maintenance project activity planned for 2013, it appears that the Industrial Manufacturing Industry's housing, building products and furniture sector is poised to rebound and to increase its total annual spending in the coming months.

The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a sixth consecutive month to a total of 259 metropolitan areas on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index for February, released today.

After closing 2012 on a positive note for the first time in six years, expectations for 2013 cabinet sales are upbeat as the economy continues to improve.

After languishing for several years, the U.S. remodeling industry appears to be pulling out of its downturn, and a renewal of the nation’s housing stock is underway, according to a major report being released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Residential housing starts were up 28.1% percent in 2012, making it one of the best years since the housing crisis began, according to figures released Jan. 17 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.