Eye On Housing
Recent Posts - page 2
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Annual Home Price Gains Remain Strong in April
Home price appreciation continued in April despite the economic slowdown and the recent declines in existing home sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 5.8% in April, after a revised 6.9% increase in March. On a year-over-year… Read More ›
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Consumer Confidence Increases in June
After a sharp decline in April, consumer confidence improved in June for a second straight month, as the economy began to reopen and unemployment claims showed improvement. The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, rose 12.2 points from 85.9 to 98.1 in June, the largest monthly gain since November 2011. The Present Situation Index jumped 17.8 points from… Read More ›
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Pending Home Sales See Biggest Increase on Record in May
After two months of sharp decline, pending home sales surged the most on record in May, as homebuyers rushed back to the market after the phased reopening of the economy. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts. The PHSI edged up 44.3% from 69.0 in… Read More ›
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May Personal Income Declined 4.2%
The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income decreased in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $19,839 billion. It went down 4.2% in May, after a 10.8% jump in April. This decrease in personal income largely came from the decline in government social benefits, because the majority of one-time… Read More ›
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Continuing Jobless Claims Fall Below 20 Million
Weekly initial jobless claims totaled 1.48 million in the week ending June 20 and continuing claims, which lags initial jobless claims by one week, declined by 767,000 to 19.52 million in the week ending June 13. The data indicate that the labor market is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 crisis as workers return to work, albeit slowly, and a full… Read More ›
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Mortgage Activity Decelerates
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Weekly Application shows a mild slowdown in purchase and refinancing activity from the previous week, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Market Composite Index decreased by 8.7% and its constituent Purchasing and Refinancing indices decreased by 3.0% and 11.7%, respectively. The MBA’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate remained unchanged from the previous week at the… Read More ›
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Share of Builders Cutting Home Prices Drops from 22% to 15%
As lockdown orders began to ease in May and June 2020, housing data rebounded quickly, providing evidence that this industry is positioned to lead the economy forward. Single-family permits rose almost 12% in May, mortgage applications are at their highest level since January 2020, and builder sentiment, measured by the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), jumped 21 points in… Read More ›
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Virus Impacts: Single-Family and Multifamily Market Concentrations
The first quarter of 2020 witnessed a shift in home building towards less population-dense housing markets in the United States, a trend which was greatly hastened by the onset of COVID-19. While most states issued statewide stay-at-home orders with exemption for construction, some of the hardest-hit states had no exemptions for construction when the pandemic first hit. While NAHB’s Home… Read More ›
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New Home Sales Jump in May
New home sales jumped in May, as housing demand was supported by low interest rates, a renewed household focus on housing, and rising demand in lower-density markets. Census and HUD estimated new home sales in May at a 676,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace, a 17% gain over April. However, as we noted last month, the April data was downwardly revised… Read More ›
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Existing Home Sales Drop for a Third Month
Existing home sales, as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), fell for the third straight month in May as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country’s economic activity and hit the labor market. However, because existing sales are a reflection of closed contracts, sales likely reached a recession low point in the May data. Total existing… Read More ›