This is the Housing Market Index's third consecutive monthly gain and its strongest reading since January 2006.

The new building code in Prescott, Ariz., will foster new energy efficient solutions and will require new conformance inspections and testing to specified limits.

The National Association of Home Builders says it's time to rethink the rate of return on energy efficiency.

This is down slightly from the 263 metros that made the list in June but is more than triple the number of metros that were on the index in July 2012.

A Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit group recently showcased 13 extremely energy-efficient homes in four Northwest states. The homes were designed to use 30 percent less energy than a traditional house.

The unemployment rate in the construction sector in May was the lowest it has been in five years, which could signal a coming worker shortage, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

After three years of research and development, Proto Homes is rolling out houses produced by a patent-pending, hybrid prefab building system.

The Diamond is the highest honor a custom builder can achieve for the quality of its home-buyer experience. Avid Ratings honored Estes Builders for providing the best customer experience of all custom-home builders in the United States.

The federal Office of Management and Budget recently announced new delineations for the nation’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas, which are used to track building permit activity and housing data.