An earlier post revealed that 67% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the 1st quarter of 2022 have spent 3+ months searching for a home without success. By far, the most common reason these long-term searchers cite...
A growing segment of prospective home buyers aren’t moving past the planning stage. At its peak in mid-2021, 61% were actively trying to find a home to buy. Now, the share is back to pre-pandemic levels, at 46%. This is clear evidence that higher mortgage...
Buyers’ expectations for housing affordability continue to sour. In the first quarter of 2022, 81% said they could afford less than half the homes for-sale in their markets – the highest share since before the pandemic. At its lowest point in the 4th quarter of...
Buyers’ expectations of housing availability continue to worsen. At its peak in the 4th quarter of 2020, 36% expected the home search to get easier in the months ahead. After five straight drops, the share is now 17% – a level not seen since 2018....
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 34 states and the District of Columbia in March compared to the previous month while 16 states lost jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 431,000 in March, following a gain of...
As rising mortgage rates and high inflation continue to price out homebuyers and reduce affordability, existing home sales dropped to the lowest level since June 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). However, the trend in home price appreciation continued as supply remained...
Preference for newly constructed homes skyrocketed in 2020, as buyers looked for homes with more square footage and amenities in which to work remotely, school children, exercise, etc. By the fourth quarter of 2020, 42% of prospective buyers preferred new construction. Since then, however, rising...
The share of adults planning a home purchase within a year fell for a third straight quarter in the first three months of 2022, down to 13%. The last time fewer American adults intended to buy a home was in the second quarter of 2020...
Single-family starts permits declined in March, as higher interest rates weighed on housing affordability and produced a fourth straight decline for the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI. Additionally, the cost and availability of materials, lumber, labor and lots remain key supply-side headwinds. Nonetheless, the resale market lacks...
Rapidly rising interest rates combined with ongoing home price increases and higher construction costs continue to take a toll on builder confidence and housing affordability. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes moved two points lower to 77 in April, according to...
Over the first two month of 2022, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 170,716. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 3.5% increase over the February 2021 level of 164,901. Year-to-date ending in February, single-family permits declined in two...
The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the first quarter of 2022 posted a reading of 86, unchanged from the first quarter of 2021. The RMI and all of its components and subcomponents were 80 or higher (on a scale of 0 to 100)...
According to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of goods used in residential construction ex-energy (not seasonally adjusted) climbed 1.4% in March, following an upwardly revised increase of 2.2% in February and 4.1% in...
Driven by higher food, gasoline and housing cost, consumer prices continued to accelerate in March. This marked the sixth straight month for inflation above a 6% rate and was the fastest annual pace since December 1981. Though gas prices have fallen slightly from their March...
NAHB analysis of the Current Population Survey’s (CPS) 2020 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) estimates the national homeownership rate at 66.4%. This analysis provides a further breakdown of this rate through the lens of married couple homeownership, which we estimate at 79% for 2020....
According to the latest May 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), half of payroll workers in construction earn more than $49,070 and the top 25% make at least $75,820....
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 1.1% in February after an increase of 1.1% in January. Spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $850.6 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 16.6% higher than...
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, decreasing in the latest week by 6.3 percent. The latest week’s survey is for the week ending April 1. The latest...
