With mortgage rates averaging above 7% for the past four weeks per data from Freddie Mac, builder sentiment posted its first decline since November 2023. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 45 in May, down six points from April, according...
Inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy, increased for the sixth consecutive month, according to the most recent producer price index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy,...
Over the first three months of 2024, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 241,311. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is an increase of 25.9% over the March 2023 level of 191,695. Year-to-date ending in March, single-family permits were up...
As described in a previous post, NAHB recently released its 2024 Priced-Out Estimates showing 103.5 million households are not able to afford a median priced new home and an additional 106,031 households would be priced out if the price goes up by $1,000. This post...
High mortgage rates and double-digit growth in home prices since COVID-19 have brought housing affordability to its lowest level in more than a decade. Given this reality, a recent NAHB study on housing preferences* asked home buyers about which specific compromises they would be willing...
During the first quarter of 2024, credit for residential Land Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) tightened slightly and remained costly, according to NAHB’s survey on AD&C Financing. The net easing index derived from the survey posted a reading of -22.0 (the negative number indicating that...
Per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) survey through the week ending May 3rd, total mortgage activity increased 2.6% from the previous week, and the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rate fell 11 basis points to 7.18%. The 30-year FRM has risen 17 basis points over...
According to the latest press release from Freddie Mac, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has now risen to approximately 7.25%. As the data posted on NAHB’s priced-out web page shows, at this rate only about 27.5 million (out of a total of...
According to the Federal Reserve Board’s April 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS), lending standards tightened for all commercial real estate (CRE) loan categories and most residential real estate (RRE) categories in the first quarter of 2024. With the Federal Reserve leaving their federal funds rate...
In March, residential building workers’ wages continued to grow but at a relatively slower pace. After an acceleration of a 6.2% increase in the previous month, the year-over-year (YOY) growth rate for residential building worker wages slowed to 5.1% in March. According to the Bureau...
NAHB’s latest study on consumer preferences—What Home Buyers Really Want Study*— asked about the features and amenities buyers want in the home, but also about the type of community where they would like to live. The question is important because the home that successfully appeals...
Job growth slowed in April, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9%, suggesting a cooling labor market after a strong start to the year. Additionally, wage growth continued to slow. In April, wages grew at a 3.9% year-over-year (YOY) growth rate, down 0.7 percentage points...
Reflecting persistent long-term labor challenges, wages in construction continue to rise, often outpacing and exceeding typical earnings in other industries. Not seasonally adjusted (NSA) average hourly earnings (AHE) in construction increased 5% since a year ago and approached the $38 mark in March 2024, according...
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee held constant the federal funds rate constant at a top target of 5.5% at the conclusion of its April-May meeting. In its statement, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) noted: Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to...
NAHB analysis of Census data shows that private residential construction spending was down 0.7% in March, after increasing 0.7% in February. It stood at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of $884.3 billion. Spending on single-family construction dropped 0.2% in March. This is the first monthly...
Due to tightened monetary policy, the count of total job openings for the entire economy has trended lower over the last year. This is consistent with a somewhat cooler economy that is a positive sign for future inflation readings. However, the number of open jobs...
