Eye On Housing
Despite a strong start for 2020, new home sales weakened significantly in March due to challenges associated with COVID-19. Contracts for new, single-family home sales declined in March by 15.4% to a 627,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. NAHB expects further declines in a challenging April, which has… 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 ›
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 ›
Year-over-year (YoY), total nonfarm employment increased by 1.5 million jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis (SA), or 1.0% from March 2019 to March 2020. During this time, total nonfarm employment in the Western region increased by 1.2%. The South and the Northeast recorded gains at 1.0% and 0.2% respectively, during this time. Midwest recorded a decline of 0.2% for this… 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 ›
According to estimates from the Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Departments, single-family starts began an expected, virus-related decline in March. Construction activity is expected to fall as virus mitigation efforts result in increased unemployment, economic uncertainty and lost business activity. Despite a strong start for 2020 in January and February, the April NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI point to additional construction… Read More ›
Reflecting the growing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes plunged 42 points in April to 30, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The decline in April was the largest single monthly change in the history of the index and marks the lowest builder confidence… 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 ›
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 ›
Given the growing number of economic impacts from mitigation efforts associated with the coronavirus, early 2020 labor market data is of much reduced analytical value. However, the data help to describe where the economy was before the shocks of March and the potential for gains in an eventual rebound we expect to take hold during the fourth quarter. February data… Read More ›