Private residential construction spending was down 0.3% in June, after a dip of 0.7% in the prior month, according to the Census Construction Spending data. Nevertheless, it remained 7.3% higher compared to a year ago. The monthly decline in total private construction spending for June was largely due to reduced spending on single-family construction. Spending…
Since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017, tax returns that itemize Schedule A deductions, such as the mortgage interest deduction (MID) , have fallen significantly with only 9.6% of all returns using an itemized deduction in tax year 2021. In 2017, the share of returns claiming an itemized deduction…
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee once again held constant the federal funds rate at a top target of 5.5% at the conclusion of its July meeting. In its statement, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) noted: “Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. Job gains have moderated,…
The U.S. homeownership rate was 65.6% in the second quarter of 2024, unchanged from the first quarter of 2024, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancies and Homeownership Survey (HVS). However, this marks the lowest rate in the last two years. The homeownership rate is below the 25-year average rate of 66.4%, due to a multidecade…
Nationwide, the share of non-conventional financing for new home sales accounted for 32.4% of the market per NAHB analysis of the 2023 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) data. This is a significant 4.3 percentage point increase from the 2022 share of 28.1%. As in previous years, conventional financing dominated the market at 67.6% of…
Home prices experienced a third year-over-year deceleration in May, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. On a year-over-year basis, the non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) index posted a 5.94% annual gain in May, down from a 6.39% increase in April. Since June of 2023, the index had seen steady increases in the…
Due to slowing home construction and elevated interest rates, the count of open construction sector jobs shifted lower in June, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). However, this shift lower is consistent with a somewhat cooler labor market, which is a positive sign for future inflation readings and the…
