The Healey-Driscoll Administration has announced a $158 million investment in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies for more than a dozen affordable housing projects across Massachusetts.

At the same time, builder sales expectations for the next six months posted their second-largest drop since the sentiment index started in 1985. 

What exactly goes into homebuilding costs, and how do those costs translate to profits for builders — and home prices for buyers?

The median-sales price slid from $425,600 in October to $402,600 last month. 

Multifamily construction, meanwhile, rose on a monthly basis. 

The Avenue will feature a mix of high-end retail and hospitality venues, plus 50 upscale residences priced from just under $3 million. 

The median price of a new home sold during the month was also up, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Multifamily starts, meanwhile, declined, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said.    

The 716,000 per-year rate of new-home sales topped the consensus estimate of 700,000. 

A developer is looking to build a new 40-story mixed-use building that would bring hundreds of hotel rooms and residences, along with retail and restaurants, to Boston’s West End.

July’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of 739,000 represented a 10.6% jump from June’s upwardly revised rate of 668,000. 

Toll Brothers Apartment Living and joint venture partner PGIM announced the grand opening of The Laurent, a seven-story luxury townhome community at 55 Wheeler St. in Cambridge.

New-home construction jumped 5.7% month over month after a soft March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Declining interest rates spurred the increase. 

The median price of a new home sold during the month fell to $418,800 from $433,100 in August, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported. 

Specifically, single-family homes were built at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 963,000, up 3.2% from 933,000 in August and up 8.6% from 887,000 a year earlier, according to government figures.