Eye On Housing
The U.S. Department of Labor released the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for the week ending April 18th. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to rise, bringing the total jobless claims to more than 26 million over the past five weeks. In the week ending April 18th, the number of… Read More ›
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Weekly Application Survey shows a 0.3% seasonally adjusted decline in loan application volume from the previous week. The Refinance index decreased by 1% from the previous week and was 225% higher than it was the same week one year ago. The Purchase Index increased 2% from one week earlier but was 31% lower than it… Read More ›
A recent NAHB survey shows the negative effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on the decision to remodel. Over 90 percent of remodelers in the survey reported a slowdown in both the rate at which inquiries are coming in, and in the general willingness of homeowners to remodel at this time. This information was collected via a question added to… Read More ›
After reaching 13-year high last month, existing home sales, as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), plummeted in March as expected due to the coronavirus outbreak. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 8.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.27 million in March, largest monthly decline since November 2015. On a… Read More ›
By now, many cities have classified residential construction as an essential business: an activity allowed to continue during the coronavirus-induced shutdown. This in itself may not be sufficient to keep construction going, however, and some jurisdictions have also started to allow virtual inspections as an attempted remedy. Data on these trends were collected recently through questions on the survey for… Read More ›
In a recent NAHB survey, the vast majority of builders said they were allowing non-construction employees to work from home, but they were also implementing several measures to allow them to continue selling homes during the coronavirus pandemic. The most common of these is private showings of model homes, but online and drive-through closings are also being offered. This information… Read More ›
The U.S. Department of Labor released the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for the week ending April 11st. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 22 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance over the past four weeks. In the week ending April 11st, 5,245,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance, known as jobless claims, on a seasonally adjusted… Read More ›
In an online poll conducted by NAHB in recent days, 90 percent of multifamily developers said the coronavirus has had an adverse effect on how long it takes to obtain a plan review for a typical multifamily building, and 88 percent said it has had an adverse effect on timely collection of rent payments. The poll collected 49 responses from… Read More ›
The U.S. Department of Labor released Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for the week ending April 4th. In the past three weeks, about 16.8 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. In the week ending April 4th, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits, known as jobless claims, reached to a… Read More ›
In the third week of NAHB’s online poll, the coronavirus’s impact on traffic of prospective buyers has become almost ubiquitous. A full 96 percent of respondents said the virus was having at least some adverse effect on traffic, and 72 percent characterized it as a major adverse effect. This result is based on 256 responses collected online between March 31… Read More ›