Eye On Housing
According to estimates from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Department, single-family starts edged up in September, consistent with recent gains for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). However, the headline measure of total housing starts was down 9.4% for the month due to a large decline in the volatile multifamily sector.
Single-family starts increased 0.3% to a 918,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace in September. Multifamily starts declined 28.2% to a 338,000 annualized rate after a strong reading of 471,000 in August.
On a year-to-date basis, single-family starts are 1.8% lower than the first nine months of 2018. NAHB’s forecast, and the forward-looking HMI suggest that future data will show slight monthly gains due to recent declines in mortgage interest rates. Indeed, single-family permits have been increasing since April, and single-family starts have been rising since May as the home construction rebound continues. We expect additional single-family growth, as areas beyond the exurbs respond to for-sale housing demand and ongoing healthy labor markets.
On a regional and year-to-date basis, single-family starts are down 9.1% in the Northeast, 8.6% in the West, 5.4% in the Midwest and up 3.4% in the South – the only region with net gains.
As of September 2019, there were 524,000 single-family homes under construction. September saw the first gain for this number since January, and it is roughly flat from a year ago. There are currently 633,000 apartments under construction, a post-Great Recession high. The cumulative impact of the rebound in home construction is seen in the graph below.
The stats are really critical.. Thanks for the detailed analysis and sharing, Robert!
Thanks Robert for informative report. the market for single-family house still be a good trend.
Robert, you have done good work but are these single-family house stats still valid? Anyways, thank you for sharing your experience.