Two-thirds of builders say immigration enforcement is gutting their workforce
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 17, 2026.
A labor squeeze that jumped from 13% to two-thirds of builders in a year lands directly on homebuilder margins and delivery timelines, and the Fed's go-to reporter is the one flagging it.
Nearly two-thirds of builders said immigration enforcement is affecting their labor force, up from 23% in March and 13% a year ago, according to a September John Burns Research & Consulting survey. “We’re almost dead in the water because our workforce is gone,” said Scott
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Nearly two-thirds of homebuilders now report immigration enforcement disrupting their labor force, up from 13% a year ago in a September survey by John Burns Research and Consulting.
One builder put it plainly: "We're almost dead in the water because our workforce is gone." That signals the disruption is already operational for investors weighing the sector.
Labor is one of the few homebuilder input costs that cannot easily be substituted or hedged. When crews shrink faster than pipelines, delivery timelines and per-unit margins take the hit, and both feed earnings guidance.
Nick Timiraos, who covers the Federal Reserve for the Wall Street Journal, surfaced this data point. That signals the labor squeeze is being read at the policy level, and it factors into how the Fed assesses the housing supply side of inflation.