Eye On Housing
Federal Open Market Committee – Pivot to Inflation, Manage Expectations
No major surprises were revealed in the standard summary statement released following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting January 27-28. With economic output expanding, strong job growth and a declining unemployment rate the committee has shifted its focus to below target (2 percent) inflation as the primary threat to the continuing economic recovery. The… Read More ›
Recent Posts
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New Home Sales: Growing Conventional Financing Share
NAHB analysis of the most recent Census numbers regarding the sources of financing for new single-family home sales suggests small changes from the prior quarter, although the long-run trends point to a growing market share for conventional financing sources. The onset of the housing crisis in 2007 led to a decline in the share of new home sales due to conventional… Read More ›
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House Price Growth Shows Signs of Normalizing
The recent release by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows that its measure of house prices, House Price Index – Purchase Only, rose by 5.3% on a 12-month seasonally adjusted basis in November 2014. This marks the 34th consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Over this period of more than two-and-a-half years, house prices have risen by 19.0% and have… Read More ›
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Most Millennial Buyers Want Single-family Home in the Suburbs
After rising for four consecutive years, the average size of new homes declined in 2014. The expectation for 2015 is for this receding trend to continue, as more Millennials enter the housing market and demand smaller, more affordable homes. Strong job growth and new lending rules that will allow for smaller down payments and lower mortgage insurance premiums will help… Read More ›
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New Home Sales at Highest Pace Since June 2008
The pace of sales of newly built, single-family homes increased 11.6% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000 homes, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the highest monthly sales rate since June of 2008. After a slow start to the year, new home… Read More ›
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A More Robust Year for Housing in 2015
NAHB hosted an economic and housing outlook seminar at its International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas inviting Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, and David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Insurance, to join David Crowe to discuss the outlook for 2015. Here’s the highlights. A strengthening labor market, low interest rates, improving mortgage availability and growing pent-up demand will… Read More ›
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Existing Sales Momentum
Completing an improved second half of 2014, existing home sales increased 2.4% in December, although the share of sales for first-time buyers continued to disappoint. Existing home sales exceeded a 5 million sales pace for the sixth time in the past seven months, and were 3.5% above the same period a year ago. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported… Read More ›
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Housing Finishes 2014 Up
Total housing stats for 2014 topped the one million mark for the first time since 2007. Census and HUD reported December housing starts and revised estimates for October and November that pushed total construction to 1,005,800 for 2014. December levels were up 4.4% from November at 1,089,000. The late year push was led by single-family construction up 7.2% in December… Read More ›
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Builders’ Sentiment Holding Steady
Builders’ attitudes about the housing market remain nearly the same since September. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index starts the New Year at 57, down one point from an upwardly revised December of 58. Builders remain relatively optimistic about the current market as the component gauging current home sales remained at 62 from a one point upwardly revised value. Builders… Read More ›
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New Research Highlights Finance Constraints on Housing Demand
An interesting new paper published by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York demonstrates the important role downpayment and wealth constraints play in shaping housing demand, particularly for lower-income homebuyers. Using survey data, the authors (Andreas Fuster and Basit Zafar) employ a strategy to measure housing demand impacts that contrasts with the often used user cost model of housing in… Read More ›