Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 44 states and the District of Columbia in September compared to the previous month while six states lost jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in September, following a gain of 315,000 jobs in August. On a month-over-month basis, employment data…
Median square foot prices (excluding record-high improved lot values) for new for-sale single-family detached (SFD) homes started in 2021 increased 19%, according to NAHB’s analysis of the latest Survey of Construction data. Increases for square foot prices in new custom SFD homes were more moderate, averaging 5%. Median sale and contract prices per square foot…
As rising mortgage rates continue to cool the housing market, the volume of existing home sales has declined for eight consecutive months as of September, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate has increased from 3.11% at the start of the year to 6.9% this week, the…
Single-family housing starts declined further in September as high mortgage rates, ongoing building material production disruptions and flagging demand stemming from rising affordability challenges continue to put a damper on new home production. Overall housing starts decreased 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.44 million units in September, according to a report from…
In a further signal that rising interest rates, building material bottlenecks and elevated home prices continue to weaken the housing market, builder sentiment fell for the 10th straight month in October and traffic of prospective buyers fell to its lowest level since 2012, with the exception of two months during the Spring of 2020. Builder…
Over the first eight months of 2022, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 728,866. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is 6.0% below the August 2021 level of 775,772. Year-to-date ending in August, single-family permits declined in all four regions. The South posted a modest decline of 3.9%, while the…
Of the roughly 1.1 million single-family homes started in 2021, 63.4 percent came with porches, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development). This marks the first time the share of single-family homes with porches has dipped…
