Eye On Housing
Homeowners’ Equity Continues to Improve
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System published the Financial Accounts of the United States for the second quarter of 2017. The balance sheet of U.S. households with real estate continues to improve as the increases in home prices continue. Households’ owner-occupied real estate increased to $23.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2017, $1,597 billion more than… Read More ›
Recent Posts
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New Single-Family Home Foundations in 2016
NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) shows that 56.8% of all new single-family started in 2016 were built on slab foundations, 27.4% had a full/partial basement, and 14.5% selected a crawl space. The gap between slab and full/partial basement foundation adoption rates is growing: the share built on slabs steadily increased from 46.0% in 2000 to 56.8% in… Read More ›
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Apartment Absorption Flat While Condo Absorption Climbs
The Census Bureau, in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), recently released the Survey of Market Absorption (SOMA), which tracks apartment and condominium completions, absorption rates (the share of apartments/condos rented or purchased within the first 3 months after completion), and asking prices. In the first quarter of 2017, completions of unfurnished, unsubsidized, privately financed apartments… Read More ›
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Implications Of FOMC Normalization Process For Mortgage Rates
In its statement, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its key interest rate unchanged at a range of 1.0 to 1.25 percent. As signaled in its last statement, the FOMC, beginning in October, will initiate the balance sheet normalization program. The contents of this program are described in the June 2017 Addendum to the Committee’s Policy Normalization Principles and… Read More ›
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August Existing Sales Remain Sluggish
August existing sales declined for the fourth time in five months, and only some of that decline was attributed to Hurricane Harvey. Despite gains in the Northeast and Midwest, existing home sales fell 1.7% in August, and remained only 0.2% above the level a year ago. Some 51% of homes sold last month were on the market less than a… Read More ›
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Single-Family Starts Post Slight Gain in August
The pace of single-family starts posted a slight gain in August, albeit over downwardly revised estimates of the rate of July construction. Nonetheless, the three-month moving average for single-family starts is at a post-recession high of 849,000 as the gradual recovery in home building continues. Total starts declined almost 1% in August to a 1.180 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the… Read More ›
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Builder Confidence Drops As Hurricanes Add Uncertainty
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes fell three points to a level of 64 in September from a downwardly revised August reading of 67 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The recent hurricanes have intensified our members’ concerns about the availability of labor and the cost of building materials. Despite this… Read More ›
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Inflation Accelerated in August
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that its seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index – Urban Consumer (CPI) rose by 0.4 percent over the month of August, a significant acceleration from the 0.1 percent month-over-month increase in July. Prices of energy commodities, gasoline in particular, rose by 6.1 percent over the month after treading flat in July. At the same… Read More ›
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How New Home Buyers Financed Their Homes in 2016
NAHB analysis of the 2016 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) data shows that reliance on non-conventional forms of financing varied across the United States, with its share exceeding 37% in the South Atlantic division but accounting for less than 20% of new single-family home starts in the East South Central and East North Central divisions. Nationwide, the share of… Read More ›
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Softwood Lumber, OSB Lead August Price Increases
The prices of softwood lumber, OSB, and ready-mix concrete increased by 2.5%, 2.9%, and 0.5%, respectively, in August according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In contrast, the price paid for gypsum fell 0.6%, its first monthly decline since May. Softwood lumber prices rose for the second consecutive month the 3.0% decrease in June. … Read More ›