Eye On Housing
In its Survey of Construction (SOC), the US Census Bureau publishes data on the number of bathrooms in new homes started. In the last several years, the share of new single-family homes with 3 or more full bathrooms has increased, which may reflect the move by builders to focus on higher-end, larger homes in the post-recession period. However, recent data indicate that this trend… Read More ›
New homes with 5,000 square feet or more of living space increased both as a share of all new construction and in absolute number in 2015, according to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction. In 2015, the share of new homes this size reached a post-recession peak of 3.9% of new homes started. The total number of 5,000+ square-foot homes… Read More ›
Sales of newly-built, single-family homes fell 7.6% on a monthly basis in August to a 609,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the Census Bureau and HUD. However, the monthly change masks the fact that the August pace of new home sales was the second strongest since the end of the Great Recession. New home sales for August… Read More ›
NAHB Economics analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) data shows that less than 9% of new single-family homes started in 2015 are served by individual wells and close to 16% have private septic systems. These shares, however, vary widely across the nine Census divisions with the corresponding shares reaching 39% and 47% in New England – the highest occurrence… Read More ›
A recent NAHB post shows that, after rising to a record high, the size of new single-family homes has leveled off and, as of the second quarter of 2016, is now trending downward slightly. Several things could be responsible. NAHB (and others) have emphasized a changing mix of repeat and first-time home buyers. Before focusing exclusively on this, however, it would be good… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending for July registered a seasonally adjusted rate of $445.5 billion, slightly up from the June downwardly revised estimate. The monthly gains are largely attributed to the strong growth of private construction spending on home improvements that rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $147.5 billion… Read More ›
According to the Household Debt and Credit Report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRB NY), the outstanding amount of housing-related debt, both home mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), totaled $8.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2016, 2.6% ($225 billion) greater than the level from one year ago. However, the outstanding amount of home equity… Read More ›
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent has posted solid gains over the last year. However, the built-for-rent market is a small portion of the total single-family development, so care must be taken when identifying trends. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, the market share of single-family homes built-for-rent, as measured on a… Read More ›
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates that the number of custom home building starts (homes built on an owner’s land, with either the owner or a builder acting as the general contractor) posted a slight increase on a year-over year basis as of the second quarter of 2016. There were 47,000 total custom… Read More ›
After increasing and leveling off in recent years, new single-family home size declined during the second quarter of 2016. This change marks a reversal of the trend that had been in place as builders focused on the higher end of the market during the recovery. As the entry-level market expands, including growth for townhouses, typical new home size is expected to… Read More ›