Eye On Housing
Building materials prices topped the list of problems builders faced in 2020 and is expected to return to the number one spot in 2021, according to special questions on the December 2020 survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. The survey results showed that building materials was a significant issue for 96% of builders last year. In 2021, however,… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction expanded to a 2.5 year high during the final quarter of 2020. As housing demand has shifted to more suburban and exurban areas and housing affordability headwinds persist, medium-density construction initially lagged. However, a strong final quarter led to roughly flat… Read More ›
An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more space, as people use their homes for more purposes. And while this measure has not increased significantly yet, new home size did level off in 2020 after years of decline. According to fourth quarter 2020 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and… Read More ›
While home buyers were benefitting from low mortgage rates at the end of 2020, builders and developers were also experiencing lower interest rates and improved credit conditions, according to NAHB’s survey on financing for Acquisition, Development and Construction (AD&C). The net tightening index derived from the NAHB survey was -17.0 in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to -3.3 in… Read More ›
Strong buyer demand helped offset supply chain challenges and a surge in lumber prices as builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched up one point to 84 in February, according to the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Lumber prices have been steadily rising this year and hit a record high in mid-February, adding thousands… Read More ›
Job openings in construction declined in December as hiring slowed, albeit with distinctions between residential and nonresidential construction. As detailed in the January employment report, there were 2,500 lost total construction sector jobs for the start of the year. Nonetheless, for home building and remodeling, sector employment is 27,600 positions higher than a year prior. Overall, hiring in the construction… Read More ›
Housing has staged a dramatic turnaround since the Spring of 2020. Due to low mortgage interest rates, a renewed focus on the importance of home, an evolving geography of housing demand, and a lack of for-sale inventory, the housing sector has been a relative bright spot for the economy. For the fourth quarter, overall GDP growth continued a recovery at a… Read More ›
The U.S. economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter of 2020 but was remained below pre-recession levels. This quarter’s growth reflected both the economic recovery from the current recession and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual… Read More ›
After a surge in the pace of new home sales in the middle of the year, the monthly growth rate of newly built single-family home sales slowed at the end of 2020. Sales exceeded construction starts by a historic margin at the end of the summer. This necessitated an increase in starts and some slowing of sales. Nonetheless, the acceleration… Read More ›
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 29 states and the District of Columbia in December compared to the previous month but the job losses in the remining 21 states erased the job gains. The largest increase came from Texas, which added 64,200 jobs during this time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 140,000… Read More ›