Eye On Housing
Only 21% of prospective home buyers (people planning a home purchase) expect that finding the right home to buy will get easier in the months ahead, according to NAHB’s Housing Trends Report for the third quarter 2019. That share is slightly better than the 19% who had the same expectation a year earlier. On the other hand, a majority of… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) data, median single-family lot prices outpaced inflation once again (4.4% vs 2.4%) and reached new record high in 2018, with half of the lots selling at or above $49,500. The most dramatic rise in lot values is observed in the West South Central division where median lot values… Read More ›
Of the single-family homes started in 2018, 64.9 percent came with porches, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development). Historically, the SOC shows the share of single-family homes with porches increasing regularly to a high of 65.7 percent in 2011… Read More ›
The total market share of non-site built single-family homes was 3% of single-family completions in 2018, according to Census Bureau Survey of Construction data and NAHB analysis. This share is expected to rise moderately in 2019 and in the years ahead, due to the ongoing labor shortage in the residential construction sector and the need to lift labor productivity amid declining housing affordability…. Read More ›
The Federal Reserve reduced the target range for the key, short-term federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a top rate of 1.75% at the conclusion of its October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This was the third cut in 2019, almost fully reversing a set of increases enacted in 2018. The FOMC views these enacted reductions as… Read More ›
After declines for six consecutive quarters, the home building component of gross domestic product (GDP) increased during the third quarter of 2019. This gain was due to the housing rebound that has taken hold since the spring, with the pace of single-family permits rising since April and the rate of single-family starts increasing since May. The overall housing share of… Read More ›
Contracts for new, single-family home sales inched down 0.7% in September to a 701,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The decline came off a downwardly revised August estimate, which was decreased from an initial reading of 713,000 to a new estimate of 706,000. Year-over-year, the September estimate is… Read More ›
According to the data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) the most common exterior wall materials on homes started in 2018 were vinyl siding and stucco. Vinyl siding and Stucco (26 percent each) were used on new homes started in 2018, brick or brick veneer (21 percent), and fiber cement siding (such as Hardiplank or Hardiboard) (20 percent). Far smaller shares… Read More ›
According to estimates from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Department, single-family starts edged up in September, consistent with recent gains for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). However, the headline measure of total housing starts was down 9.4% for the month due to a large decline in the volatile multifamily sector. Single-family starts increased 0.3% to… Read More ›
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes rose three points to 71 in October, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Sentiment levels are at their highest point since February 2018 and have risen 13 points since the start of 2019. The housing rebound that began in the spring continues, supported… Read More ›