Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Builders’ Use of Drones Remains Widespread, Mostly for Promotional Photos
Well over 40 percent of builders continue to use aerial drones, according to special questions on the March 2019 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The first of these questions asks the single-family builders in the HMI panel if they have ever used drones in their businesses, including any cases where they may have hired third parties… Read More ›
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Have You Seen These Posts for National Home Remodeling Month?
May is National Home Remodeling Month. As has become a tradition, Eye on Housing recognized the occasion with a series of posts related to the topic. As the month draws to a close, we provide a summary of those posts for readers who may have missed them: For Remodelers, Shortages of Skilled Labor Remain Elevated: May 1, 2019. Remodeling to… Read More ›
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Rates on Construction Loans Back Off Slightly in the First Quarter
After rising throughout most of 2018, with one minor exception, interest rates on loans for residential acquisition, development, and construction (AD&C) backed off slightly in the first quarter of 2019, according to results from NAHB’s latest AD&C survey. The NAHB survey showed average first quarter interest rates of 6.56 percent on land acquisition loans, 6.25 percent on loans for land… Read More ›
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Just Released: NAHB Remodeling by Zip Code Estimates for 2019
NAHB recently released its latest estimates of spending on improvements to owner-occupied housing by zip code. The estimates include the number of owner-occupied homes, the number of home owners spending on improvements, the average spending per improvement, and total spending on improvements in each zip code projected to occur over calendar year 2019. Also provided are 2019 estimates of the… Read More ›
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Many Remodelers Are Now Creating ADUs
Despite some recent improvement, household formations have been lagging since the latest downturn. The accompanying effects have been many—including a lower rate of housing production, a lower rate of replacing older housing units, a consequently aging housing stock, and increased doubling up. Remodeling is also potentially affected, as the tendency to double up may be accommodated in part by modifying… Read More ›
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Curb-less Showers Now Among the Most Common Aging-In-Place Projects
Last week’s post covered general issues related to Aging-In-Place (such as how many professional remodelers do it, and how many of their customers are receptive to it), using data from NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey for the 4th quarter of 2018. This post covers some of the more detailed questions from the same survey, including specific types of Aging-in-Place projects undertaken… Read More ›
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Remodeling to Age-In-Place Remains Strong, Still Mostly for Older Home Owners
According to NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey for the 4th quarter of 2018, over three-fourths of professional remodelers undertake projects designed to allow home owners to Age-in-Place. Their customers are generally familiar with the Aging-in-Place concept, and at least somewhat receptive to it. However, in practice remodelers continue to perform Aging-in-Place work mostly for customers age 55 or older,… Read More ›
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For Remodelers, Shortages of Skilled Labor Remain Elevated
In response to NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey for the 3rd quarter of 2018, roughly 85 percent of remodelers reported shortages of workers available to perform finished or rough carpentry, and nearly half (48 percent) classified the shortage of finished carpenters as serious. Although these percentages are down slightly from a year earlier, they remain seriously elevated. The RMI… Read More ›
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Bedrooms, Kitchens Consume Copious Space in New Homes
In the average new home, 28.0 percent of the finished floor space is allocated to bedrooms and 11.2 percent to the kitchen area, according to a recent NAHB study. The study is based on special questions appended to the November 2018 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. The questions covered 13 specific types of areas or rooms, plus… Read More ›
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Homes Built in Nonmetropolitan America
Of the 848,000 single-family homes started in the U.S. in 2017, roughly 79,000 were nonmetropolitan—that is, they were built outside one of the officially-defined metropolitan areas—as reported in a recent NAHB study, At 79,000, nonmetropolitan single-family starts were up 40 percent from the trough in 2011, compared to a 97 percent for single-family starts overall. The NAHB study is based on territory… Read More ›