Eye On Housing
Author Archives
-
Top Posts of 2020: Sales Outpacing Starts by a Historic Margin
With the end of 2020 approaching and a vaccine now being deployed, NAHB’s Eye on Housing is reviewing the posts that attracted the most readers over the past, dramatic year — a year that saw housing emerge as a bright spot for an economy under stress. In October, the NAHB Economics team produced a new estimated data series for single-family… Read More ›
-
Affordability and Lack of Supply Put a Dent in Home Sales
After a surge in the pace of new home sales in earlier in the year, the monthly growth rate of newly built single-family home slowed during recent months. Sales exceeded construction starts by a historic margin at the end of the summer. This necessitated an increase in starts and some slowing of sales. Nonetheless, the acceleration of sales in 2020… Read More ›
-
Single-Family Starts Level Off in November
Single-family starts leveled off in November, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau. Single-family construction is up 10.1% year-to-date, with notable gains in 2020 for the Midwest, parts of the West and other lower-density markets. The pace of single-family starts in November was the highest production rate since the spring of… Read More ›
-
Builder Confidence Down from Record High, Still Strong
Ending a string of three successive months of record highs, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell four points to 86 in December, according to the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Despite the decline, December is still the second-highest reading in the history of the series after last month’s 90. Housing demand is strong… Read More ›
-
Job Openings Slowing in Construction
Job openings in construction slowed again in October, as the sector experiences a two-tier recovery. As detailed in the November BLS employment data, over the past seven months, job gains in residential construction offset 96% of the jobs lost in March and April, in contrast to the 58% job recovery in nonresidential construction. On net, this has left job openings… Read More ›
-
New Home Inventory at a Three and Half Year Low
After a surge in the pace of new home sales in July and August, the monthly growth rate of newly built single-family home slowed during the Fall. While the level of sales remains elevated and at post-Great Recession highs, sales have exceeded construction starts by a historic margin at the end of the summer. This necessitated an increase in starts… Read More ›
-
Multifamily Built-for-Rent Share: 96%
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the market share of rental units of total multifamily construction starts remained at 96% during the third quarter of 2020. In contrast, the historical low share of 47% was set during the third quarter of 2005, during the condo building boom. An average share of 80% was registered during the 1980-2002 period…. Read More ›
-
Custom Home Building: 3Q20 Data
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building lagged the overall single-family construction market in the third quarter of 2020. There were 52,000 total custom building starts during the third quarter, a 7% decline compared to the third quarter of 2019. Over the last four quarters, custom housing starts totaled… Read More ›
-
Townhouse Construction Decline Continues
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction declined during the third quarter. As housing demand has shifted to more suburban and exurban areas and housing affordability headwinds persist, medium-density construction has lagged. During the third quarter of 2020, single-family attached starts totaled 31,000, which was 3% lower than the… Read More ›
-
New Single-Family Home Size Leveling Off Before Rising
An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more space, as people use their homes for more purposes. And while this measure has not increased significantly yet, new home size appears to be leveling off after years of decline. According to third quarter 2020 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and… Read More ›