Eye On Housing
Household Balance Sheets: 3Q19
The third quarter 2019 Financial Accounts of the United States, the Federal Reserve’s flow of funds data, show the aggregate values of households’ assets and liabilities in the nation. Households’ real estate assets totaled $29.2 trillion and liabilities totaled $10.5 trillion, making homeowners’ equity $18.7 trillion or 64% of total household real estate. The data show a continuation of the… Read More ›
Recent Posts
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Regional Data on Single-Family Permits in October
Over the first ten months of 2019, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 727,301. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 1.6% decline over the October 2018 level of 739,120. Year-to-date ending in October, single-family permits reported declines in three regions and a slight increase in the South. The Northeast reported the steepest decline… Read More ›
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Softwood Lumber, Gypsum Products Prices Increase as Broader Price Index Declines in November
Prices paid for goods used in residential construction declined 0.4% in November (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building materials prices have declined an average of 0.1% per month over the last 12 months, and the price of goods used in residential construction has risen 1.3% in 2019…. Read More ›
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Tracking Lifetime Homeownership Rates
A recent NAHB Special Study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NYLS) to study lifetime homeownership rates and how long individuals sustain in homeownership. The study finds a lifetime homeownership rate of 90.5% among the 1979 NLSY cohort, meaning that most people become homeowners at some point in life (Figure 1). This finding is a reminder of the importance… Read More ›
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Consumer Prices Rise in November
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.3% in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, following a 0.4% increase in October. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the “core” CPI increased by 0.2% in November, the same increase as in October. In November, increases in the food and energy indexes contributed… Read More ›
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Garages in New Homes: 2018 Data
A majority of new homes that completed construction in 2018 included two-car garages (64%), according to NAHB analysis of 2018 Census Bureau Survey of Construction data. There is clear uniformity for parking options in new homes completed across the Census divisions. Except for West North Central division, the 2-car garage was the largest share of completed homes in all other divisions…. Read More ›
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Revolving Debt Expands in October
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report shows rising trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through October 2019. In October, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.5 percent from the previous month, with revolving debt1 increasing by 8.8 percent and nonrevolving debt2 increasing by 4.3 percent. Consumer credit totaled $4.2 trillion… Read More ›
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Basements Continue to Fall Out of Favor
NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) shows that 60.1% of all new single-family started in 2018 were built on slab foundations, followed by 24.3% with a full/partial basement, and 14.3% with a crawl space. The gap between slab and full/partial basement foundation adoption rates is growing: the share of new homes built on slabs steadily increased from 46.0%… Read More ›
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Millennial Housing Demand and Regional Building Trends: 3Q19 HBGI
Supply and resulting affordability challenges for millennials were highlighted in the most recent NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). The third quarter HBGI also offers more region-specific insights of single- and multifamily home building trends, including their connections to millennial-intensive areas. Single-family home building in rural areas posted a solid growth rate of 1.1% for the third quarter of 2019,… Read More ›
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Strong Job Growth in November
Total payroll employment increased by 266,000 in November, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.5%. Residential construction employment was little changed (-500) in November, after an increase of 5,400 jobs in October (revised). Total construction industry (both residential and nonresidential) employment totaled about 7.5 million in November. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Employment Situation Summary for November. Total… Read More ›