NAHB’s Economists

David Crowe, Ph.D., is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Dr. Crowe is responsible for NAHB’s forecast of housing and economic trends, survey research and analysis of the home building industry and consumer preferences as well as microeconomic analysis of government policies that affect housing. Dr. Crowe is also responsible for the development and implementation of an innovative model of the local economic impact and fiscal cost of new home construction, which has estimated the net impact of new housing in over 500 local markets. Past research has concentrated on home ownership trends, tax issues, demographics, government mortgage insurance, local land use ordinance impacts and the impacts of housing on local economies. Before becoming NAHB’s Chief Economist, Dr. Crowe was NAHB’s Senior Vice President for Regulatory and Housing Policy. Prior to NAHB, Dr. Crowe was Deputy Director of the Division of Housing and Demographic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Ashok Chaluvadi is a senior research associate for the Economics group at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C. As a senior research associate he is responsible for conducting and assisting with surveys, such as builder sentiment survey, finance issues survey and other related housing industry surveys. Also, he provides information on housing topics and related issues to NAHB members, other staff members, financial institutions, Wall Street companies and other individuals seeking such information. He has a M.A. in Economics from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

Robert Denk is Assistant Vice President for Forecasting and Analysis at the National Association of Home Builders. His responsibilities include developing econometric models of national, state and metropolitan area housing activity, as well as providing ad hoc analyses on a range of housing sector issues. Mr. Denk has been an economist in Washington DC for over 20 years working in the private, non-profit and government sectors. Mr. Denk received a B.S. from the College of Social Sciences at Michigan State University and an M.A. in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Robert D. Dietz, Ph.D., is Vice President for Tax and Market Analysis for NAHB, where his responsibilities include economic and legal analysis of tax and policy issues, as well as analysis of housing market data. His areas of responsibility include homeownership and energy tax incentives, affordable housing policies, business tax issues, tax regulations, and government budget analysis. Dr. Dietz has published academic research on the private and social benefits of homeownership, federal tax expenditure estimation, and other housing and tax issues in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Housing Research, the National Tax Journal and the NBER Working Paper series. He has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on housing and tax issues. Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Robert worked as an economist for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, specializing in revenue estimation of legislative proposals involving housing, urban development, and other business tax issues. He is a native of Dayton, Ohio and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the Ohio State University in 2003.

Paul Emrath, Ph.D., is Vice President for Survey and Housing Policy Research for NAHB where his responsibilities include conducting statistical and economic research for NAHB and its local affiliates, as well as managing NAHB’s Survey and  Housing Policy Departments. The first of his departments  conducts a number of regular, periodic surveys—such as the monthly survey that generates the widely cited NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index—as well as special surveys such as the one used to break down construction costs in a new home.  His other department conducts a broad range of policy-related research such as estimating the economic impact of home building and analyzing proposed government regulations changes for  NAHB committees and councils. Since joining NAHB in 1992, he has developed many of the statistical methods NAHB uses to analyze housing data, produced over 700 local impact of home building studies, and published more than 150 articles on a wide variety of housing related topics—twice winning National Investment Center awards for articles on 55+ housing. Before being promoted to Vice President, he worked for NAHB as Housing Policy Analyst (1992-1994), Director of Survey Analysis (1994-1995), Senior Economist (1995-1999), Regulatory Economist (1999-2001), and Assistant Vice President (2001-2009). Prior to joining NAHB, he taught economic theory and statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for four years. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Stephen Melman, J.D., is the Director of Economic Services at the National Association of Home Builders. Mr. Melman is a spokesman for NAHB’s forecast of new housing trends and the analysis of the home building industry. He has published numerous research articles on topics including industry structure and publicly traded builders. Before his current position, Mr. Melman was responsible for NAHB’s multifamily and federal housing program initiatives. Prior to NAHB, Mr. Melman was an Appeals Officer for the US Civil Service Commission in Washington, DC. He is a former president of Sinai House, a nonprofit that provides transitional housing for homeless families in Washington, DC. Mr. Melman earned a J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law, a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University, and a B.A. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis.

Joshua J. Miller, Ph.D., is a Housing Policy Economist with the National Association of Home Builders where his responsibilities include monitoring government policies relating to local economic development, impact fees, and energy policies. Dr. Miller conducts statistical and economic research on various homebuilding regulation and housing policy topics, including the economic impact of home building. His areas of responsibility include state and local finances, housing finance, and homeownership issues. Prior to joining NAHB, Dr. Miller was a research assistant at the University of Illinois – Institute of Government & Public Affairs. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Michael Neal is a Senior Economist with the National Association of Home Builders. In this capacity, he assists in the preparation of the state and metropolitan area forecast. He also monitors macroeconomic and financial issues that affect the U.S. housing market. He has a decade of experience in economic policy. Prior to joining NAHB, he worked at the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the Congressional Budget Office. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Morehouse College and a M.P.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rose Quint is Assistant Vice President for Survey Research at the National Association of Home Builders. Ms. Quint holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics/International Business from Old Dominion University as well as a Master’s degree in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her responsibilities include planning and conducting industry surveys, specifically in the areas of builder sentiment, remodeling, housing affordability, and AD&C financing issues. Ms. Quint is also responsible for special research projects, such as studies on builders’ profitability, consumer preferences, construction costs, and membership census. She joined NAHB in 1999.

Natalia Siniavskaia, Ph.D., is a Housing Policy Economist with the National Association of Home Builders where her responsibilities include conducting statistical and economic research on various homebuilding regulation and housing policy topics, including environmental and zoning regulation, housing affordability, and economic impact of home building. While working for NAHB, she developed a model for estimating housing’s contribution to Gross State Product. Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Dr. Siniavskaia was Assistant Professor of Economics at the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Ohio State University.

Heather Cameron Taylor is a senior research associate for the Economics group at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C. As a senior research associate she is primarily responsible for conducting housing industry surveys.  She also is responsible for conducting statistical and economic research for NAHB.  She has a M.S. in Economics and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics both from The Johns Hopkins University.