Eye On Housing
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report, the share of Americans who are considering the purchase of a home in the next 12 months was 13% in the third quarter of 2020, one percentage point higher than a year earlier and the first year-over-year gain in the 3-year history of this series. The gain shows the COVID-19 crisis has impacted… Read More ›
About 3 out of every 10 American adults are currently working from home, on a full- or part-time basis. The finding comes from a recent poll of a representative sample of over 17,000 adults conducted for NAHB by Morning Consult. Gen Z’s made up 12% of respondents, Millennials and Gen X’ers were each 26%, and Boomers another 33%. In terms… Read More ›
As lockdown orders began to ease in May and June 2020, housing data rebounded quickly, providing evidence that this industry is positioned to lead the economy forward. Single-family permits rose almost 12% in May, mortgage applications are at their highest level since January 2020, and builder sentiment, measured by the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), jumped 21 points in… Read More ›
The residential remodeling industry, just like any other private industry in the American economy, operates on the basis of competition and profits. Companies enter, stay or exit the industry of their own volition, driven by consumer demand for their services and the expectation of a rate of return commensurate with the risk taken. Because reliable information is critical to make… Read More ›
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey conducted in May 2020 reveals that 48% of single-family builders are not using incentives to bolster sales and/or limit cancellations. This of course implies that slightly more than half, 52%, are using some kind of incentive to achieve that objective. What specific incentives are they using? Figure 1 shows the complete list, but… Read More ›
The housing market did not escape the pain and contraction experienced by the US economy in April 2020 as a result of the lockdown orders issued by state and local governments to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Builder confidence posted a historic decline and there were broad declines for housing starts. In recent weeks, there has been anecdotal… Read More ›
As revealed in a previous post, 56% of buyers who are actively engaged in the process of finding a home have spent upwards of 3 months searching unsuccessfully. What is holding them back? 40% say they can’t find a home at a price they can afford and 32% each say they can’t find a home with the features they want… Read More ›
Surging job losses in March stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decline in housing affordability in the first quarter of 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 61.3 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of January and end of March were affordable to families… Read More ›
Of the 10% of American adults considering a home purchase in the first quarter of 2020, about half (49%) have moved beyond just planning and are actively engaged in the process to buy a home. This “active buyers” share was slightly higher than in the first quarters of 2018 and 2019—both 46%, and a possible sign that low interest rates… Read More ›
While home buyers report slightly more optimistic expectations for future housing availability (see earlier post) in the first quarter of 2020, there is no commensurate improvement in their outlook for affordability. In fact, 78% say they can afford fewer than half the homes available in their markets, the same share as a year earlier. This in turn means that only… Read More ›