After dropping to a one-year low last month, consumer confidence rebounded slightly in March as strong job growth offset consumer’s concerns about the Ukraine crisis and decades-high inflation. The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, rose 1.5 points from 105.7 to 107.2 in...
The construction labor market remains tight, as the industry sees a rising number of job openings year-over-year. The count of open construction jobs remained steady at 381,000 unfilled positions in February. The highest measure in the history of the data series (going back to late...
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia in February compared to the previous month while Arkansas and Alaska lost jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 678,000 in February, following a gain...
Much like other home buyers, those buying their first homes rate double sinks and walk-in pantries as the most popular of 30 kitchen features listed in the recent NAHB study, What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition. In the study, first-time (and other) home buyers...
New single-family home sales posted a second monthly decline in February as housing demand was affected by a jump in mortgage rates. After starting at 3.1% in December, rates increased to 3.45% in January and 3.76% in February, per Freddie Mac. Additionally, builders continue to...
Among first-time home buyers, a laundry room ranked as the most popular of the more than 200 home and community features listed in the recent NAHB study, What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition. The study is based on a nationwide survey of 3,247 recent...
NAHB analysis of the Census Bureau’s quarterly tax data shows that $672.5 billion in taxes were paid by property owners in the four quarters ending Q4 2021 (not seasonally adjusted), a 1.0% quarterly increase.[1] Four-quarter property tax revenues declined 0.6% in Q3 2021, the second...
As rising mortgage rates and home prices continued to price out homebuyers and reduce affordability, existing home sales dropped to a six-month low in February, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Furthermore, home price appreciation is expected to slow in the coming quarters...
Single-family starts posted a small increase in February, as lack of resale inventory continues to support housing demand despite higher interest rates. The availability of materials, lumber, labor and lots remain key headwinds, with access to labor in particular likely to become more challenging in...
The first of many expected Federal Reserve hikes of the short-term federal funds rate was announced today. Combined with future balance sheet runoff, these monetary policy moves will lead to higher mortgage rates in 2022 and 2023 as the Fed attempts to curb elevated inflation....
The prices of goods used in residential construction ex-energy climbed 1.6% in February (not seasonally adjusted), according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building materials prices increased 20.4%, year-over-year, and have risen 31.3% since January 2020....
Ongoing lumber and building material supply-side constraints and rising construction costs and expectations of higher interest rates continue to negatively affect builder sentiment even as buyer demand remains relatively solid. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes moved two points lower to...
Over the first month of 2022, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 83,404. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 0.6% decline over the January 2021 level of 83,921. Year-to-date ending in January, single-family permits declined in three out...
As described in a previous post, NAHB’s recently released its 2022 Priced-Out Estimates, showing that 87.5 million households are not able to afford a median priced new home, and that an additional 117,932 would be priced out if the price goes up by $1,000. A...
The latest results from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States, i.e., the Flow of Funds, show that in 2021, the aggregate market value of all owner-occupied real estate in the United States experienced the largest quarterly increases on record. From $36.8...
Consumer prices continued to break 40-year highs in February due to higher food, gasoline and housing costs. This was the largest year-over-year gain since January 1982. This pace of inflation will likely stay high in the months ahead as Russia-Ukraine crisis continues drive up oil...
In the past month, total mortgage activity, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, underwent a series of weekly declines, but increased in the latest week by 8.5 percent. The latest week’s survey is for the week ending March 4. The...
The construction labor market remains tight, as the industry sees a rising number of job openings year-over-year. The count of open construction jobs increased for the month to 380,000 unfilled positions in January. The highest measure in the history of the data series (going back...
