Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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AD&C Lending Expands
The volume of residential construction loans jumped by 4.8% during the third quarter of 2016, marking 14 consecutive quarters of growth and setting the highest quarterly growth rate since the summer of 2014. Tight availability of acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) loans has been a limiting factor for home building growth, but easing credit conditions and a growing loan base have helped expand residential construction activity in a thin inventory environment. According… Read More ›
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Single-Family Built-for-Rent Construction
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent posted gains over the last year. However, the built-for-rent market is a small portion of the total single-family development, so care must be taken when identifying trends. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, the market share of single-family homes built-for-rent, as measured on a one-year moving… Read More ›
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New Multifamily Construction Dominated by Rental Production
An elevated market share for new rental multifamily homes is holding typical apartment size below levels seen during the pre-recession period. However, as multifamily developers build more for-sale housing units in the years ahead, the average size of multifamily homes is likely to rise. The recent pattern of change in the size of new multifamily units stands in contrast to the post-recession increase in the size… Read More ›
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Post-Recession High Set for Custom Home Building
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates that the number of custom home building starts (homes built on an owner’s land, with either the owner or a builder acting as the general contractor) set a post-recession high for construction starts during the third quarter of 2016. There were 49,000 total custom… Read More ›
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Townhouse Construction during the Third Quarter
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction starts continued to grow on a year-over-year basis. Over the last four quarters ending with the third quarter of 2016, townhouse starts totaled 94,000, a more than 10% gain over prior year total. For the third quarter of 2016, townhouse starts came… Read More ›
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Single-Family Home Size Trending Lower
After increasing and leveling off in recent years, new single-family home size continued to trend lower during the third quarter of 2016. This ongoing change marks a reversal of the trend that had been in place as builders focused on the higher end of the market during the recovery. As the entry-level market expands, including growth for townhouses, typical new home size… Read More ›
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Builder Confidence Holds Firm in November
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes held steady in November at a level of 63 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Builder sentiment has held well above 60 for the past three months, indicating that the single-family housing sector continues to show slow, gradual growth. Ongoing job creation, rising incomes and… Read More ›
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Construction Job Openings Continue to Rise
The count of unfilled jobs in the overall construction sector increased in September, as residential construction employment continued to grow. According to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and NAHB analysis, the number of open construction sector jobs (on a seasonally adjusted basis) grew to 221,000 in September, after establishing a cycle high of 225,000 in July. The July estimate represents the highest monthly count of… Read More ›
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Framing Methods for Single-Family Homes: 2015
Wood framing remains the most dominant construction method for single-family homes in the U.S., according to NAHB analysis of Census Bureau data. For 2015 completions, 93% of new homes were wood-framed. Another 7% were concrete homes, and less than half a percent were steel-framed. In absolute number terms, 603,000 single-family homes were completed in 2015 and had wood frames. Concrete homes totaled… Read More ›
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Garages in New Homes: 2015 Data
A majority of new homes that completed construction in 2015 included two-car garages, according to NAHB analysis of Census Bureau Survey of Construction data. For new single-family completions in 2015, 61% of homes offered a two-car garage. Another 24% of homes possessed a garage large enough to hold three or more cars. Just 6% of newly-built homes had a one-car garage, and only 1%… Read More ›