Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Federal Reserve: Closer to Taper
The Federal Reserve has been supporting the housing market during the virus crisis, the 2020 recession, and the subsequent, ongoing recovery via asset-backed purchases (among other tools), including $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed security (MBS) purchases. These MBS purchases have held interest rates lower than they otherwise would have been. Today, the Fed moved closer to announcing a tapering… Read More ›
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August Housing Starts Lifted by Multifamily Development
Total housing starts increased 3.9% in August, due to strength for multifamily development. According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, single-family starts were down 2.8% for the month, while overall multifamily starts was up 21% in August. The August total starts reading of 1.62 million starts is the number of… Read More ›
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Builder Confidence Steadies as Material and Labor Challenges Persist
Builder confidence inched up in September on lower lumber prices and strong housing demand, even as the housing sector continues to grapple with building material supply chain issues and labor challenges. Ending a three-month decline, builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes edged up one point to 76 in September, according to the National Association of Home… Read More ›
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Residential Construction Loan Growth
The second quarter of 2021 marked the second consecutive quarter of loan growth for residential construction loans. These gains have lifted the year-over-year growth rate, marking an expansion of outstanding loans for home builders. The volume of 1-4 unit residential construction loans made by FDIC-insured institutions increased by 4.9% during the second quarter, even as the market cooled off strong… Read More ›
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July Construction Job Openings
In the July labor market data, job openings for the overall economy increased to 10.9 million open positions. What had been a challenge in certain sectors, like construction, continues as a broad labor access issue as businesses seek workers as the economy reopens. The count of open construction jobs weakened in July to 321,000 unfilled positions, according to data from… Read More ›
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New Home Sales Steady in July
As the market has cooled due to higher costs, July recorded a slight gain of 1% for sales of newly-constructed single family homes, according to estimates from the Census Bureau and HUD. The July seasonally adjusted annual rate (708K) was 27% lower than a year ago, due to builders slowing sales as a consequence of higher material and other costs… Read More ›
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Rebound for Multifamily Starts
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts remained elevated at 95.2% during the second quarter of 2021. 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 ›
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New Single-Family Home Size is Rising
An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Recent data confirms this impact on the market is occurring. According to second quarter 2021 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area increased to… Read More ›
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Gain for Custom Home Building
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building posted the second best quarter since the Great Recession during the Spring of 2021. There were 54,000 total custom building starts during the second quarter of the year. This marks a 15% gain from the second quarter of 2020, a comparison affected… Read More ›
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Best Quarter for Townhouse Construction in 14 Years
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction in the second quarter of 2021 posted the highest count of starts in 14 years. As housing demand has shifted to more suburban and exurban areas and housing affordability headwinds persist, medium-density construction lagged for much of 2020. However, demand for… Read More ›