Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Bathrooms Top Kitchens as Most Popular Remodeling Project in 2011
Special questions included on NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey show that home owners remain interested in updating the most heavily used rooms in their homes. Bathroom remodeling was a common job in 2011 for 78 percent of the remodelers responding to the 1st Quarter 2012 RMI survey—highest for any type of remodeling project included on the questionnaire—followed by kitchen… Read More ›
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NAHB Finds Problems of Existing Housing Stock Often Understated
The traditional method for measuring the quality of homes, developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), shows only about 1.5 percent as severely inadequate. Using the same data source (the HUD/Census Bureau American Housing Survey), NAHB defined inadequate housing in a way that not only helps explain why prices and rents are sometimes lower than expected, but also shows… Read More ›
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Remodeling Market Index Little Changed in First Quarter
After increasing in the 4th quarter of 2011, NAHB’s Remodeling Market Index (RMI) declined by one point to 47 in the 1st quarter of 2012. Both of the RMI’s major components declined in the 1st quarter. The RMI component measuring current market conditions dropped one point to 49, while the component indicating future remodeling activity fell two points to 44. The… Read More ›
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Updated Calculator Shows Highest Priced Home You Can Afford to Buy
If you see a house of a certain price and have a little experience with spreadsheets, it’s fairly easy to calculate the mortgage payment and compare it to your income to see if you can afford the home. But if you want to do the reverse calculation—start with your income and see what price home you can afford—it’s a little… Read More ›
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Remodeling Per Home Highest on the Coasts, in Resort Areas
NAHB recently released new county estimates of remodeling in owner-occupied homes to members of NAHB Remodelers. The estimates are based on a model developed by NAHB using the American Housing Survey (HUD/U.S. Census Bureau) with county-level inputs from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The inputs are based on data collected from 2006 to 2010, so the resulting estimates are for remodeling by home owners during… Read More ›
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NAHB Completes Landmark 700th Local Impact of Home Building Study
Since 1996, NAHB has been producing customized studies that estimate the jobs, income, and taxes generated by home building in various metropolitan areas, non-metropolitan counties, and states across the country. Early in 2012, NAHB delivered the 700th such study to the customer who commissioned it. Parts of the country covered by the 700 NAHB local impact studies to date are shown in the map… Read More ›
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Starts, Permits Indicate Relative Health of the Multifamily Sector
In February, the (seasonally adjusted) annual rate of starts in buildings with five or more apartments was 233,000, according to the latest release from the Census Bureau’s Manufacturing and Construction Division. This is a 29 percent increase from the January starts rate (which was revised upward slightly) and more than double the starts rate for February 2011. Although a rate of… Read More ›
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MVI Shows Ongoing Stability in the Market for Existing Rental Apartments
In the fourth quarter of 2011, NAHB’s Multifamily Vacancy Index (MVI) declined for a second consecutive quarter—from 35.1 to 34.7 The MVI is based on a quarterly survey of NAHB’s multifamily members, tracking their sentiment about the market for existing apartments on a scale from 0 to 100. A declining MVI is a positive change, as it indicates that sentiment… Read More ›
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Homeownership Rates Across All Metro Areas
For timely information on homeownership rates, the standard reference is the Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS), which releases information for the U.S. on a quarterly basis. On an annual basis, the HVS also provides homeownership rates for the 75 largest metropolitan areas. This information can be quite useful, but smaller areas may have particularly high homeownership rates or otherwise… Read More ›
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MPI Points to Continued Improvement in Multifamily Construction
In the fourth quarter of 2011, NAHB’s Multifamily Production Index (MPI) continued to show improvement, increasing for a sixth consecutive quarter. The MPI, which is based on a quarterly survey of multifamily builders and developers, tracks sentiment about construction of new apartments on a scale of 0 to 100. The MPI increased from 47.3 in the third quarter to 48.9 in… Read More ›