Eye On Housing
Recent Posts - page 3
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Number of Alternative Minimum Tax Payers Falls 98 Percent in Tax Year 2018
Each year, the IRS releases tax return statistics for returns filed for the prior tax year. Data is released throughout the year as more returns are processed and represent tax return information that has been gathered through late-May, mid-July, and mid-November. Although these numbers are not as thorough as the Statistics on Income tables, unlike those tables, filing season data… Read More ›
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Pending Home Sales Rebound in January
Following a 4.3% slump in December, pending home sales saw a strong monthly gain in January, supported by solid job growth and low mortgage rates. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts. The PHSI grew 5.2% from 103.4 in December to 108.8 in January, the… Read More ›
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Multifamily Builder and Developer Confidence Unchanged in Fourth Quarter
Confidence in the market for new multifamily housing remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to results from the National Association of Home Builders’ Multifamily Market Survey (MMS). The MMS produces two separate indices: The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) which remained even at 49 (Figure 1), and the Multifamily Vacancy Index (MVI) which also remained unchanged at 40… Read More ›
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New Home Sales Surge to Start 2020
Contracts for new, single-family home sales increased 7.9% in January to a 764,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The increase came off an upwardly revised December estimate, which was revised from an initial reading of 694,000 to a new estimate of 708,000. Year-over-year, the January estimate is 18.6%… Read More ›
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Home Price Appreciation Continues in December
National home prices continued to increase in December 2019. Nineteen metro areas had positive home price appreciation while Cleveland saw home price decline in December. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, released by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 5.7% in December, following a 5.8% increase in November. On a… Read More ›
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Multifamily Built-for-Rent: 94% Market Share
An elevated rental share of multifamily construction is holding typical apartment size below levels seen during the pre-Great Recession period. According to fourth quarter 2019 data, the average per unit square footage of multifamily housing construction starts was 1,074, off from the post-recession high set at the start of 2015 (1,247 square feet). The median was 1,053 square feet for… Read More ›
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New Single-Family Home Size Continues to Fall
New single-family home size trended lower during the final quarter of 2019 as interest rates remained low and builders seek to add additional entry-level supply. According to fourth quarter 2019 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area ticked down to 2,252 square feet. Average (mean) square footage… Read More ›
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Existing Home Sales Slip But Remain Solid
After hitting a near two-year high in December, existing home sales, as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), dropped in January amid tight inventory and rising prices. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell 1.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million in January. However, on a year-over-year basis, sales were 9.6%… Read More ›
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Custom Home Building Posts Gain for 2019
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building expanded during the fourth quarter of 2019, supported by low mortgage interest rates. There were 44,000 total custom building starts during the fourth quarter of 2019. This marks a 16% gain over the final quarter of 2018 total of 38,000. Over the… Read More ›
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Rates on Construction Loans Continue to Drift Downward
In the fourth-quarter of 2019, builders and developers reported declining interest rates on all types of loans covered in NAHB’s quarterly survey on acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) financing (Exhibit 8). The average interest rate declined from 6.39 to 6.13 percent on loans for land acquisition, from 6.31 to 5.94 percent on loans for land development, from 5.99 to 5.63… Read More ›