On this Presidents’ Day, we’re taking a look ahead at the economic and housing data due to be reported this week.

Tuesday

NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI)

• The last report had single-family builder confidence at 56, marking the 8th straight month above the key level of 50

Wednesday

Census Bureau/Department of Housing and Urban Development housing starts

• The December measure of housing construction came in just under a one million unit pace, down 9.8% from an unusually strong November, but up 1.6% year-over-year

Bureau of Labor Statistics  (BLS)Production Price Index, which includes data on home building material prices

• The December report indicated producer prices up 1.6%, with gypsum prices up only slightly for the month but up almost 17% on average from typical 2012 prices

Thursday

NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) for the final quarter of 2013, a quarterly measure of housing affordability

• The third quarter HOI had a measure of 64.5% (64.5% of homes sold were affordable nationwide for a household with median income), compared to 69.3% during the second quarter

BLS CPI data for January, including information concerning residential rents

• The December CPI data indicated that real, inflation adjusted rents increased 1.1% from December 2012 to December 2013

Eye on the Economy, twice weekly summary of economic and housing news from NAHB Chief Economist Dave Crowe

Friday

National Association of Realtors, Existing Home Sales

• The first time home buyer share, as of December, was only 27%, compared to 30% in December 2012 and around 40% historically

Tags: economics, home building, housing