Eye On Housing
Recent Posts - page 2
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Single-Family Large Metro Construction Lagged in 2019
The fourth quarter NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) highlight recent performance of single-family and multifamily construction markets across the seven population density-based regional geographies of the index. Over the course of 2019, exurbs outside medium-sized cities, i.e., outlying counties of small metro areas, performed best at 2.9% growth rate. Small towns (micro counties) performed next best at 2.8%, although… Read More ›
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Energy Prices Fall in February
In February, headline inflation and core inflation remained unchanged from the previous month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), rose by 0.1% in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, the same increase as in January. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the “core” CPI increased by 0.2% in February, the same increase… Read More ›
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Student Loan Debt Spikes in January
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report shows rising trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through January 2019. In January, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.5% from the previous month, with revolving debt1 decreasing by 3.3% and nonrevolving debt2 increasing by 5.8 percent. Consumer credit totaled $4.2 trillion on a… Read More ›
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Exceptional Job Gains for February
The U.S. job market remained strong in February. Total payroll employment increased by 273,000 and the unemployment rate was 3.5% for the month. Residential construction employment increased by 21,900 in February, after a revised increase of 22,400 in January. Total construction industry (both residential and nonresidential) employment totaled about 7.6 million in February. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the… Read More ›
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Slower Construction Immigration Inflow Keeps the Immigrant Share Steady
New NAHB research shows that despite the slowing of immigration inflow, the share of foreign-born workers in the US construction labor force remain at record high levels but showed no growth in 2017 and 2018. Immigrant workers now account for close to one in four workers in construction. The share of immigrants is even higher in construction trades, reaching 30%…. Read More ›
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Refinancing Activity Soars
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey shows a weekly increase in the Market Composite Index by 15.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Refinance Index soared 26.0% from the previous week and the Purchase index decreased 2.7%. Looking at the Refinance series since its inception, the latest 10-week sprint of over 160% is the largest since January 2009 when… Read More ›
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Mortgage Rates Fall Back in February
Information compiled by Freddie Mac shows that mortgage rates decreased on a month-over-month basis. As of end of February, the 30-year FRM – Commitment rate, declined by 16 basis points to 3.47 percent from 3.62 percent in January. The cycle peak was 4.87 percent in 2018 November. Given the recent market volatility, the Federal Reserve cut the benchmark interest rate… Read More ›
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Federal Reserve Enacts 50 Basis Point Rate Cut
Reacting to the growing demand- and supply-side impacts of the coronavirus, the Federal Reserve FOMC today reduced the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points, lowering the target to 1 1/4 and 1 percent. This is the first time since 2008 the FOMC enacted a federal funds rate cut outside of the typical meeting schedule. It… Read More ›
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Red Counties Outperform Blue Counties for Home Construction
For the current edition of the Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), NAHB introduces a red vs. blue segmentation of the 3,221 counties of the United States. “Red counties” are defined as those in which the majority of the population in the 2016 Presidential election voted for President Donald Trump, while “blue counties” are defined as those in which most of… Read More ›
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Small Year-over-Year Gain for Construction Loans
As interest rates declined during the second half of 2019, the stock of outstanding residential construction loans declined during the final quarter of 2019. The volume of 1-4 unit residential construction loans made by FDIC-insured institutions declined 0.8%. The volume of loans fell by $615 million during the quarter, placing the total stock of loans at $79.7 billion. On a… Read More ›