Eye On Housing
Contracts for new, single-family home sales were effectively flat in February, inching down 0.6% to a 618,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. Matching solid readings of the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI measure of home builder confidence, new home sales data for prior months were revised up. For example, the initial January estimate… Read More ›
As was widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (the FOMC) raised its key interest rate 25 basis points to a range of 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent following its March meeting. The Fed noted that its decision reflected “realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation”, but that the current level of the federal funds rate remains “accommodative”, supporting… Read More ›
Total housing starts declined in February, led by a reversion to trend for multifamily development. Starts fell 7% to a 1.24 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. The pace of single-family starts expanded in February, rising 2.9% to a 902,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate. The three-month moving average for single-family… Read More ›
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes edged down one point to a level of 70 in March from a downwardly revised February reading on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This is the fourth consecutive month at or above a level of 70 for the HMI, an indication of strong single-family housing… Read More ›
The Financial Accounts of the United States for the fourth quarter of 2017 were released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System recently. In the fourth of 2017, the aggregate market value of households’ real estate continues to improve on a nominal and not seasonally adjusted basis. On a nominal and not seasonally adjusted basis, households’ owner-occupied… Read More ›
Roughly 6.8 percent of single-family homes started in 2017 qualify as tear-down starts, according to NAHB’s latest estimates. This is down from 10.2 percent in 2016, due primarily to the sharp reversal of a 2016 spike in tear-down percentages reported from the western part of the country. The abovementioned results come from special questions appended to the February 2018 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market… 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 sixth (and final) 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, driverless cars, time searching for a home,… 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 fifth 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, driverless cars, time searching for a home, and… Read More ›
The volume of residential construction loans increased by 1.6% during the fourth quarter of 2017, marking 19 consecutive quarters of growth. Furthermore, stabilization for the year-over-year growth rate is an indicator of continued, modest growth for single-family construction. Tight availability of acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) loans has been a limiting factor for home building growth, but easing credit conditions and a growing loan base have helped expand residential construction… Read More ›
Builders and developers responding to NAHB’s AD&C Financing Survey continue to report easing credit conditions for acquisition, development, and single-family construction loans and the pace of easing quickened. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the overall net tightening index based on the AD&C survey was -15.3, indicating net easing. All major categories of AD&C financing also recorded net easing, with… Read More ›