Tag Archive for ‘economics’

Top 2011 Posts: The Importance of Independent Contractors for Construction

With the end of 2011 approaching, the contributors of NAHB’s Eye on Housing thought it would be useful to take a look at the updates that attracted the most readers over the last year. In June we examined data concerning the construction sector labor market. Comparing these numbers to those associated with the economy as a whole highlights the importance of independent contract status for… Read More ›

Property Tax Receipts Stabilize in the Third Quarter of 2011

Property taxes are an important source of revenue for state and local governments to pay for government services, particularly education. When factoring in revisions, Census data of state and local government tax collections for the third quarter of 2011 indicate a small increase from the previous quarter to $467 billion on an annualized basis. Nonetheless, total property tax collections from the fourth quarter of 2010 through the third quarter of 2011 were… Read More ›

Multifamily Shows Continued Strength

The Census Bureau’s preliminary estimate of starts in buildings with five or more apartments for November surged 32 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 230,000. While growth in this sector is typically more volatile than the single family sector, the trend is clearly upward, with production more than doubling since the trough in late 2009, and recovering to… Read More ›

Single-Family and Multifamily Starts: Long-Run Trends

Growth in multifamily construction is leading the recent increase in housing starts. And with many analysts focusing on multifamily development, we thought it would be useful to consider the long-run relationship between single-family and multifamily housing starts. Over the last 40 years, a discernible trend has emerged with respect to the ratio of single-family to multifamily housing starts. Overall, both types of starts have been subject… Read More ›

Top 2011 Posts: The Geography of Rent-Burdened Households

With the end of 2011 approaching, the contributors who work on NAHB’s Eye on Housing thought it would be useful to take a look at the updates that attracted the most readers over the last year. In October, we used Census data to examine the geography of “rent-burdened” households. The analysis indicated that  25% of renters were paying more than 50% of their income in… Read More ›

Top 2011 Posts: The Rental Housing Stock

With the end of 2011 approaching, we here at NAHB’s Eye on Housing thought we would take a look at the updates that attracted the most readers over the last year. In July we examined the composition of the rental housing stock in the United States. The NAHB analysis of 2009 Census data found that one-third of rental housing consisted of… Read More ›

Construction Jobs Continue Slow Growth per October JOLTS Data

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data for October from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that the national economy, while sluggish, continues to trend better with respect to job openings. Total job openings for all non-farm sectors were essentially unchanged at 3.3 million. The job openings rate of 2.4% for October remains at levels last consistently experienced in 2008. The… Read More ›

Declining Multifamily Vacancy Rates Point to Future Growth

Data from the Survey of Market Absorption (SOMA), produced by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, reveal limited weakness in the multifamily sector for the first half of 2011. However, declining multifamily vacancy rates are a hopeful sign for future multifamily market expansion, which is consistent with improving responses reported in NAHB multifamily surveys. The SOMA tracks completions and… Read More ›

The Geography of Home Size and Occupancy

A new research paper from NAHB Economics examines the geography of the relationship between home size and the number of people residing in a given home.  It is well-known that home sizes, on average, increase as one moves from the central city to the suburbs. As a result, a stereotype exists of that people living in larger homes in the suburbs are… Read More ›