Eye On Housing
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Higher Lumber Costs Add More Than $35K to New Home Prices, $119 to Monthly Rent
According to NAHB’s latest estimates, rising softwood lumber prices over the last 12 months have added $35,872 to the price of an average new single-family home, and $12,966 to the market value of an average new multifamily home. That increase in multifamily value translates to households paying $119 a month more to rent a new apartment. These estimates are based on the softwood lumber used… Read More ›
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How Builders Try to Deal with Rising Lumber Prices
As most industry observers know, softwood lumber prices have been extremely high and volatile over the past year. During an unprecedented four-month surge in 2020 prices nearly doubled, reaching an all-time high in September. Since then prices have continued to fluctuate, increasing recently to the point that they are now considerably higher than they were even at last September’s historic… Read More ›
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Remodeler Confidence Up Strongly Year over Year
Remodeler confidence was up strongly on a year-over-year basis, according to the Remodeling Market Index (RMI) released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). In the first quarter of 2021, the RMI posted a reading of 86, up a full 38 points from the first quarter of 2020. The large year-over-year increase signals a very strong recovery in… Read More ›
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Second Homes: 15 Percent of New Home Sales
Last week’s post reported on first-time home buyers from the February survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). According to the same source, second homes (i.e., homes sold to buyers who are not going to occupy the home year-round, but use it as a vacation home, investment property, etc.) account for 15 percent of new single-family home sales. … Read More ›
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First-time Buyers Comprise 43 Percent of New Home Market
According to the February survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), first-time home buyers account for 43 percent of the new home market. Weighted by builder size (single-family homes started in 2020), about two-thirds of the builders reported that more than 20 percent of their homes were sold to first-time buyers. Twenty-seven percent even said more than half… Read More ›
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Nearly 90 Percent of Builders Have Trouble Getting Appliances
In the survey results described in one of last week’s posts, prices of building material ranked as the number one problem among NAHB’s single-family builders, and availability of building materials ranked second. These concerns are not surprising, given the surge in building material prices reported in the latest Producer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Traditionally, when… Read More ›
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Better Credit Conditions & Rates for Builders at End of 2020
While home buyers were benefitting from low mortgage rates at the end of 2020, builders and developers were also experiencing lower interest rates and improved credit conditions, according to NAHB’s survey on financing for Acquisition, Development and Construction (AD&C). The net tightening index derived from the NAHB survey was -17.0 in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to -3.3 in… Read More ›
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Share of New Homes with Patios Continues to Edge Up
Of the roughly 879,000 single-family homes started in 2019, 59.6 percent included patios, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and partially funded by HUD). Once again, this set a new record high (NAHB began tracking the series in 2005), and once again the record was set by a… Read More ›
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Builder Credit: More Expansive But More Costly in 3Q
While lenders continued to report tightening in the third quarter, builders and developers responding to NAHB’s survey on financing for Acquisition, Development and Construction (AD&C) reported a near-neutral change in credit availability. The net tightening index derived from the NAHB survey was -3.3 in the third quarter of 2020, compared to 12.0 in the second quarter. The index is constructed… Read More ›
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Share of New Homes with Decks Declines Again
Of the roughly 879,000 single-family homes started in 2019, 20.3 percent included decks, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and partially funded by HUD). This is down over two percentage points from percentage points from the 22.6 percent recorded a year earlier, which in turn was down over… Read More ›