Eye On Housing
In January, NAHB produced a study on the impact of home building in the nine-county Kansas City metropolitan area. Like earlier studies, the one for Kansas City estimated the income, jobs and taxes generated by home building activity in the area. However, the Kansas City study is especially notable because it marks the 800th such customized report NAHB has produced… Read More ›
According to the Census Bureau’s annual estimates from the Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS), the national homeowner vacancy rate is at its lowest point since 2005 and the rental vacancy rate is at its lowest point since 1995. The relatively tight housing and rental markets are occurring concurrently with falling homeownership rates. The homeownership has fallen for 10 straight years. The… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census construction spending data found that on a 3-month moving average basis, from January 2014, single-family construction spending increased 11.4% and multifamily construction spending increased 28.9%. The seasonally adjusted annual spending for single-family construction was $204.9 billion and $48.9 billion for multifamily construction. Single-family and multifamily construction spending both experienced monthly increases over December estimates. Single-family spending… Read More ›
The recent release by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows that its measure of house prices, House Price Index – Purchase Only, rose by 5.4% on a 12-month seasonally adjusted basis in December 2014. This marks the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Over this nearly three-year period, house prices have risen by 20.0% and have now surpassed their November 2005 level…. Read More ›
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its second estimate of real GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2014. Growth in economic output was revised downward to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.2% from an “advance” estimate of 2.6%. The second estimate is based on more complete information than was available for the initial estimate. The slower pace… Read More ›
The Pending Home Sales increased 1.7% in January, and was up 8.4% from the same period a year ago. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), increased to 104.2 in January, up from an upwardly revised 102.5 in December. The PHSI increased year-over-year for the fifth… Read More ›
Earlier today, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported a 10 basis point decline in mortgage interest rates for the month of January. Looking into the data a little further shows that the story was essentially the same for the subset of mortgages used to purchase newly built homes, On conventional mortgages for new homes, FHFA tables show the average… Read More ›
Builder and developer sentiment about the multifamily market held steady in the fourth quarter, according to results from NAHB’s Multifamily Production Index (MPI) released earlier today. The overall MPI—a composite measure of sentiment about production of low-rent apartments, market-rate rental apartments and condominiums—was unchanged at 54 in the fourth quarter. The MPI and each of its components is an index… Read More ›
The consumer price index fell for the third straight month as the price of gasoline continued its sharp decline. The prices on expenditures made by urban consumers decreased 0.1% over the past twelve months before seasonal adjustments. According to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the consumer price index decreased 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month… Read More ›
According to the most recent release of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey, the share of mortgages that are considered delinquent continued to fall. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the share of mortgages past due declined to 5.68% in the fourth quarter of 2014, 17 basis points from the third quarter of 2014 and 71 basis less than its… Read More ›