Eye On Housing
Single-family starts experienced continued gains in September, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau. Contrasting the different subsectors of housing, while single-family permits are showing continued strength, multifamily permits continue to weaken as a consequence of the 2020 virus crisis. The pace of single-family starts in September was the highest production… Read More ›
In a further show of strength for the housing sector, builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes increased two points to 85 in October, further surpassing the previous all-time high of 83 recorded in September, according to the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). These are the first two months the index has ever been above 80…. Read More ›
According to NAHB’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) data, median single-family lot prices came down in 2019, breaking their relentless climb for the first time since 2013. The 2019 median lot price was $45,000, which amounts to a 9% decline since 2018, when half of the lots were selling at or above $49,500. The West divisions… Read More ›
Over the first eight months of 2020, total single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 616,856. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is an 6.9% increase over the August 2019 level of 576,798. Year-to-date ending in August, single-family permits across the four regions ranged from an increase of 9.8% in the South to a decline of 1.8% in the Northeast…. Read More ›
After a sharp decline in the spring, home building has staged a dramatic rebound. In fact, supported by low mortgage rates, an evolving geography of housing preferences, and favorable demographic tailwinds, housing demand has improved so quickly that the current difference between the pace of newly-built single-family home sales and for-sale single-family construction starts has reached a historic level. The… Read More ›
The total market share of non-site built single-family homes (modular and panelized) declined to 3% of single-family completions in 2019, according to Census Bureau Survey of Construction data and NAHB analysis. This share is expected to rise moderately in 2020 and in the years ahead, due to the ongoing labor shortage in the residential construction sector and the need to lift labor… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC), nationally, 891,068 new single-family units were started in 2019, 1% higher than the units started in 2018. It was 107% higher than the trough of 2011 (430,677 units). Among all the nine Census divisions, new single-family units started in the South Atlantic, West South Central and Mountain Divisions exceeded 100k… Read More ›
New single-family home sales surged in August, as housing demand was supported by low interest rates, a renewed consumer focus on the importance of housing, and rising demand in lower-density markets like suburbs and exurbs. Census and HUD estimated new home sales in August at a 1.01 million seasonally adjusted annual pace, an approximate 4.8% gain over revised July rate… Read More ›
We know lumber prices are up more than 170% since mid-April as of mid-September. As housing has rebounded, the lack of lumber has materialized as a key weak spot for housing supply. With that in mind, what’s the market share of alternative framing methods? For better or worse, wood framing remains the dominant construction method for single-family homes in the… Read More ›
Single-family starts showed continued growth in August but overall housing production fell 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.42 million units due to a double-digit percentage decline in multifamily production, according to data from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Departments. The pace of single-family starts in August was the highest production rate since February…. Read More ›