Eye On Housing
Total housing starts posted a slight increase in July as markets face headwinds in the form of rising construction costs and growing affordability concerns. Total housing starts increased 0.9% in July and are 6.2% higher for 2018 on a year-to-date basis, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. The pace of single-family starts was roughly… Read More ›
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes edged down one point to a solid 67 reading in August on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Builders continue to report strong demand for new housing, fueled by steady job and income growth along with rising household formations. However, they are increasingly focused on growing affordability… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending dipped 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $568.3 billion in June. Nevertheless, on a quarterly basis, private residential construction spending climbed 4.0 percent in the second quarter, the largest quarterly gain since 2017. Moreover, total private residential construction spending was 8.8 percent higher… Read More ›
Contracts for new, single-family home sales declined in June, falling 5.3% to a 631,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The decline came off a downwardly revised May estimate, which was dropped from an initial read of 689,000 to a new estimate of 666,000. The June estimate was the lowest annual pace since… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) shows that, nationally, there were 847,830 new single-family units started in 2017, 9% higher than the units started in 2016. Among all of the nine Census divisions, new single-family units started in the South Atlantic, West South Central and Mountain Divisions exceeded 100k in 2017. These three divisions represent 21 states, approximately… Read More ›
Following two consecutive monthly increases, single-family starts fell by 9.1 percent over the month of June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 858,000, according to a joint release by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, over the quarter, starts of single-family houses was about flat, rising by 1.2 percent to 900,000. This is… Read More ›
Total housing starts increased in May with gains in both the single-family and multifamily sectors. Starts increased 5% month-over-month to a 1.35 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. This pace is a post-recession high. The rate of single-family starts was 3.9% higher in May, reaching a 936,000 annual rate…. Read More ›
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent increased over the last four quarters. During this timer period, construction starts of this type of housing totaled 37,000 homes, compared to 33,000 for the prior four quarters. There were 7,000 single-family built-for-rent starts for the first quarter of 2018. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB… Read More ›
Counter to the recent prevailing trend, new single-family home size increased at start of 2018. New home size had been falling over the last two years due to an incremental move to additional entry-level home construction. According to first quarter 2018 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area increased to 2,436 square… Read More ›
Total housing starts declined in April due a drop in the volatile multifamily category. Starts decreased 3.7% month-over-month to a 1.29 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. The pace of single-family starts was roughly flat in April, after an upward revision to the March rate (increased from an initial… Read More ›