ENLARGE Home builders say soaring regulatory costs have made it increasingly difficult for them to pursue affordable single-family construction projects. Other recent surveys have also suggested that builders are contending with steeper costs than they have in the past. That is up from $65,224 in 2011, the last time the home-building industry group conducted a similar survey on regulatory costs. Jurisdictions also have widely varying requirements, he said, making it more difficult to keep costs down through standard designs and floor plans. Both surveys showed that regulatory costs represented about the same percentage of the final price tag of a new home—24.3% this year versus 25% in 2011.

Source: Wall Street Journal May 07, 2016 04:00 UTC