Over the first six months of 2022, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 567,798. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 3.6% decline over the June 2021 level of 589,146. Year-to-date ending in June, single-family permits declined in all...
During the second quarter of 2022, credit became both tighter and more costly on loans for Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) according to NAHB’s Survey on AD&C Financing. The average effective rate (based on rate of return to the lender over the assumed life of...
Rising mortgage rates, high inflation, low existing inventory and elevated home prices contributed to housing affordability falling to its lowest point since the Great Recession in the second quarter of 2022. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI),...
Per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) survey through the week ending August 5th, total mortgage activity increased slightly and the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rate rose four basis points to 5.47%. The FRM rate has declined 35 bps over the past month but remains...
Consumer prices eased slightly from a 40-year high in July as declines in energy prices offset increases in food and shelter indexes. Despite this improvement, inflation remains above an 8% rate for a fifth straight month. The food index recorded its largest annual gain since...
According to NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC), new single-family starts expanded at a fast pace in 2021. Nationally, 1,133,145 new single-family units were started in 2021, 14% higher than the units started in 2020. It marked the fastest growth rate since 2013...
The construction labor market is cooling off as economic activity slows in response to tighter monetary policy per the latest job openings data. Given the Fed’s dual mandate of fighting inflation and maintaining maximum employment, macro price and jobs data are key to informing the...
Job growth accelerated in July amid higher inflation and growing economic pressures. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 528,000, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5% in July. Construction industry employment (both residential and non-residential) totaled 7.7 million and has exceeded its February 2020...
Headship rates for all age groups have been trending lower over the last two decades, with important implications for the demand for home building. The latest Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) data show that the pandemic housing boom brought this...
An earlier post revealed that 63% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the 2nd quarter of 2022 have spent 3+ months searching for a home without success. The most common reason these long-term searchers cite for not...
Housing’s share of the economy edged lower at the end of the first half of 2022. For the second quarter of 2022, overall GDP declined at a 0.9% annual rate, following a 1.6% decrease in the first quarter. Housing’s share of GDP decreased to 16.6%,...
In the second quarter iteration of the Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) on Bank Lending Practices, banks reported largely unchanged lending standards across all residential real estate (RRE) loans. Major net shares of banks reported weaker demand for most RRE loans...
The share of prospective home buyers who are actively engaged in the process to buy a home rose to 49% in the second quarter of 2022, after declining for three straight quarters. The pivot is likely driven by less competition from buyers who have exited...
The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate at 65.8% in the second quarter of 2022, which is statistically unchanged from the last quarter reading (65.4%). The national rental vacancy rate slipped to 5.6%, while the homeowner vacancy rate stayed at...
For the first time since 2020, affordability expectations improved in the second quarter of 2022. After rising steadily for five straight quarters, the share of buyers who can only afford a minority of the homes for sale in their markets declined to 77%, down from...
As mortgage rates reached 3-year high, private residential construction spending decreased 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $923.7 billion in June, according to NAHB’s analysis of the Census Construction Spending data. It was the first decline since May 2020. On a year-over-year...
For the first time since 2020, prospective buyers expect housing availability to improve. After falling steadily for five quarters, the share expecting the home search to get easier in the months ahead grew from 17% to 22% between the first and second quarters of 2022....
The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income increased 0.6% in June, making its ninth monthly increase in the past 12 months. Gains in personal income are largely driven by increases in compensation of employees and proprietors’...
