Consumer prices continued to accelerate in January due to higher food, electricity and housing costs. This was the largest year-over-year gain since February 1982. This higher-than-expected inflation may push the Federal Reserve to become more aggressive and raise the federal funds rate at a faster...
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest weekly application surveys show average loan sizes reaching consecutive record highs each week for the latest month, with a record high of $446,000 for the week ending February 4. Accompanying the increase was a similar dramatic rise in the...
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report states that consumer credit increased 5.9 percent in 2021, with revolving and nonrevolving credit increasing 6.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. During the fourth quarter, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.6 percent,...
Supply-chain bottlenecks that put upward pressure on home prices along with rising interest rates contributed to housing affordability falling to a 10-year low. The likelihood of higher interest rates in the months ahead (as the Federal Reserve moves to tighten interest rates) along with ongoing...
Much like last year, the price and availability of building materials topped the list of problems builders face. According to special questions on the December 2021 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, building material prices were a significant issue for 96% of builders...
Despite the omicron surge, the U.S. job market experienced solid gains. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 467,000 in January, and the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.0%. Additionally, job gains in December and November were much stronger than initially estimated, according to revisions...
In the third quarter of 2021, the demand for apartment and other multifamily properties surged, contributing to the rise in their price levels, as shown by the Commercial Real Estate Price Index (CREPI) series. This recent development owed to a combination of several related factors:...
Most analyses of lumber price trends and levels fail to account for inflation because the price data for softwood lumber used in framing applications is generally quoted using the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite Price or lumber futures prices–neither of which is inflation-adjusted. Adjusting for...
The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate at 65.5% in the last quarter of 2021. In contrast to some data reporting in 2020 and earlier 2021, the last quarter of 2021 data collection was not affected by the pandemic, as...
An earlier post revealed that 67% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the final quarter of 2021 have spent 3+ months searching for a home without success. The inability to find a home they could afford once...
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1.1% in December after an increase of 0.7% in November 2021. Spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $810.3 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 15.0% higher...
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 declined for the month to 337,000 unfilled positions in December. The highest measure in the history of the data series (going back...
The share of prospective buyers actively trying to find a home fell in both the third (57%) and fourth quarters (52%) of 2021, after reaching a series high of 61% in the second quarter of the year. The downward trend demonstrates how falling levels of...
According to the latest Housing Trends Report, home buyers’ affordability expectations deteriorated throughout 2021. By the fourth quarter, the share of buyers who could afford less than half the homes available in their markets was at 76%. That share had risen all year: from 63%...
In early 2018, only 16% of home buyers expected that finding a home would be easier in the months ahead. The share soared during the early phase of the pandemic, reaching 36% by the end of 2020. But in 2021, buyers’ perceptions of housing inventory...
Thanks to a surge in residential investment during 2020 and ongoing strength in 2021, housing’s share of GDP remains elevated compared to most of the post-Great Recession period. Due to the pandemic, market conditions evolved with a renewed focus on the importance of home, a...
Real GDP growth accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2021 despite omicron’s spread. This quarter’s growth reflected strong gains in private inventory investment and consumer spending. According to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real gross domestic product (GDP) increased...
NAHB analysis of the most recent Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing published by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that conventional loans financed 77.8% of new home sales in the fourth quarter of 2021—the largest share since Q1 2008. The share increased 2.9 percentage points...
