Eye On Housing
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $530.8 billion. It was the highest level since February 2007. Total private residential construction spending was 7.9% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are largely attributed to the strong growth of spending on… Read More ›
Contracts for new, single-family home sales expanded by 17.5% in November to a 733,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The particularly strong growth rate was due to a large downward revision for the October estimate (624,000, originally 685,000). However, the November sales rate was the fastest pace since July 2007. The expansion is… Read More ›
With the release of the final estimate of third quarter 2017 GDP (a 3.2% annual growth rate), housing’s share of gross domestic product (GDP) declined slightly to 15.3%. However, the home building and remodeling component – residential fixed investment – held steady at 3.4%. Housing-related activities contribute to GDP in two basic ways. The first is through residential fixed investment (RFI). RFI is effectively the… Read More ›
Total housing starts increased in November, with strong readings from the single-family sector. Total starts increased 3.3% to a 1.3 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. The headline number was supported by strong numbers from single-family home building. Single-family starts increased for the month, rising 5.3% to a 930,000 seasonally adjusted… Read More ›
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes increased five points to a level of 74 in December on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) after a downwardly revised November reading. This was the highest report since July 1999, over 18 years ago. Builder confidence has improved in 2017 on hopes of an improved regulatory environment… Read More ›
A majority of new homes that completed construction in 2016 included two-car garages, according to NAHB analysis of Census Bureau Survey of Construction data. For new single-family completions in 2016, 63% of homes offered a two-car garage. Another 22% of homes possessed a garage large enough to hold three or more cars. Just 6% of newly-built homes had a one-car garage, and… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending grew 0.4% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $517.7 billion. It was a modest gain after a 0.2% dip in September. The total private residential construction spending was 7.4% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are largely attributed to the steady… Read More ›
The volume of residential construction loans increased by 2.4% during the third quarter of 2017, marking 18 consecutive quarters of growth. While the year-over-year growth rate has slowed, the uptick in the quarterly growth rate is good news for home building. 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… Read More ›
Contracts for new, single-family home sales expanded by 6.2% in October to a 685,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The strongest reading in a decade continues new home sales on a positive growth trend. The expansion is supported by ongoing job growth and improving household formations, as well as tight existing home inventory. Despite some volatility in the month-to-month sales figures, October marks the sixth… Read More ›
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent increased in the third quarter. Over the last four quarters, total production of this type of housing was 32,000 homes, compared to 33,000 during the four quarters prior. However, there were 10,000 starts in the third quarter alone. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis,… Read More ›