Eye On Housing
Contracts for new home sales disappointed in September, after a strong August and a run of weak job numbers. According to estimates from the Census Bureau, the monthly pace of new home sales declined 11.5% from August, falling from a 529,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate to 468,000. The September sales rate was effectively unchanged from the rate recorded in June…. Read More ›
Builders continue the modest rise in new home sales as reported by HUD and the Census Bureau. August new home sales, annualized and adjusted for seasonality, increased to 552,000. The August level was up 5.7% from an upwardly revised July and represents the highest level since February 2008. The steady, albeit modest, progression of new home sales reflects the steady… Read More ›
If you have ever wondered what drives a home buyer to select a particular home look no further. The American Housing Survey provides insight into the home buying process. The top two reasons for choosing a home were its size (cited by 76 percent of buyers) and room layout/design (74 percent). The house’s price and the neighborhood were each cited… Read More ›
According to the Census’s Bureau’s American Housing Survey, 13.7 million people purchased a home in the two years prior to 2013, twice as many as did in the two years prior to 2011. Eleven percent of the homes were new homes and 43 percent of the buyers were purchasing their first home. Given recent market changes, new home buyers are… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of the most recent Census numbers reveals two consecutive quarters of higher market share of FHA-backed mortgages for the new home sale sector. This development comes after a reduction in FHA premiums announced at the start of 2015. Despite the surprising drop for the pace of new home sales in June (down 6.8%), the strong non-seasonally adjusted sales level for… Read More ›
The US Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development in a joint release reported that newly constructed single family homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 482 thousand in June, down from May’s 517 thousand pace (-6.8%), but up from the June 2014 pace of 408 thousand (18.1%). The inventory of new homes for sale inched… Read More ›
The rate of new home sales increased in May to an annual level of 546,000, the highest since February 2008 as the housing market of the mid-2000s started to deflate. The May figure is 2.2% above April and puts the first two months of the second quarter at 3.8% ahead of the first quarter. Regional results were more varied with… Read More ›
The NAR Pending Home Sales Index increased for the fourth straight month in April to a level 14% above April of 2014. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts produced by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), increased 3.4% in April to 112.4, up from an upwardly revised 108.7 in March. The PHSI increased year-over-year for the eighth consecutive… Read More ›
Consumer sentiment and consumer confidence are two indexes showing consumers’ perceptions of current business, income and employment conditions, as well as their expectations for the near future’s economy. Figure 1 shows both the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment and the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index are highly inversely correlated with the unemployment rate. High unemployment drives down… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of the most recent Census numbers reveals an increase for the share of newly-built homes financed with FHA-backed mortgages, along with a decline in cash-based sales. The onset of the housing crisis in 2007 led to a decline in the share of new home sales due to conventional mortgage financing and increases in the shares due to mortgages backed by… Read More ›