After a third bad month in a row, the haltingly progressive, two-steps-forward, one-step-back pattern the new home sales market has been in for much of the past year is in danger of reversing itself. There’s no doubt that builders are keenly aware of just how much the housing market overall is starving for new housing supply, and of the huge role they play in helping to feed demand. Unfortunately, building conditions right now just aren’t cooperating. Buildable, desirable land is scarce and expensive. Competition for skilled labor is high. And materials costs, in particular, keep rising – made worse by the shifting winds of international trade politics. Recent trade actions have boosted the wholesale prices of key home building materials – notably the softwood lumber used in framing and cedar shingles used in roofing. In a market where demand outpaces supply, consumers ultimately pay the price for these policy decisions. By all logic, builders should increasingly be targeting more affordable construction, and in the aftermath of tax reform, they should be seeing lower regulatory costs. But rising labor and materials costs are dominating their balance sheets, and the high price point of new homes is a testament to these headwinds. All new supply at this point, even expensive new homes, is welcome and necessary. But it isn’t helping first-time and lower-income home buyers both get on and move up the housing ladder.