Eye On Housing
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes remained unchanged at a healthy level of 72 in February on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Demand conditions are positive, but supply-side construction hurdles need to be managed, as scarce labor and building material price increases remain top concerns. In particular, the HMI gauge of… Read More ›
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that a measure of inflation, its Consumer Price Index – Urban Consumer (CPI), rose by 2.1 percent over the past 12 months, similar to the 12-month rate of growth recorded in December. Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes the more volatile energy and food prices, rose by 1.8 percent, also matching its growth rate in… Read More ›
NAHB regularly conducts national polls of American adults and home buyers in order to understand new trends and preferences in the housing market. This is the third in a series of posts highlighting poll results, as presented during the 2018 International Builders’ Show in Orlando, FL. See previous posts on tiny homes and driverless cars. A recent poll revealed that… Read More ›
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 33 states and the District of Columbia, unchanged in two states, and decreased in 15 states in December 2017 compared to November 2017. Year-over-year, 49 states increased employment while two states lost payroll employment during this time. As a result payroll employment nationwide rose in December. The largest… Read More ›
Last week’s post showed that about one-fourth of the typical homes built by a sample of 246 single-family builders in 2016 had enough green features to quality for a bronze rating under the 2015 National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS). A major reason is the high marks the homes tended to receive under the energy efficiency section of the NGBS. The… Read More ›
Households age 55 or older earn about half of all household income in the U.S., but hold over two-thirds of the residential equity and other household wealth, according to the most recent (2016) Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The SCF is conducted every three years by the Federal Reserve and serves as one of the few federal sources of information… Read More ›
Data for all four quarters of 2017 show housing affordability remaining essentially flat throughout the year, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 59.6 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $68,000…. Read More ›
Information provided by the Federal Reserve Board in its January 2018 release of the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) indicates that lending standards on commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to large and medium-sized firms continue to ease on net. The continued easing in standards on C&I loans increase the stock of loans, which in turns fuels job creation. However,… Read More ›
The count of unfilled jobs in the construction sector declined in December. The fall in open jobs followed several months of strong of net job gains for the residential construction sector. Over the course of November and December, for example, home builders and remodelers added 32,000 jobs on a net basis. According to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)… Read More ›
According to the NAHB/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI), 82%, 277 metropolitan statistical areas, recorded growth in their LMI Score over the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to a year ago. The index uses single-family housing permits, employment, and home prices to measure proximity to a normal economic and housing market. The index is calculated for 337 local markets, metropolitan statistical areas… Read More ›