Tag Archive for ‘economics’

Employment Situation in November: State-Level Analysis

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 43 states and the District of Columbia in November compared to the previous month, while seven states lost jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in November, following a gain of 284,000  jobs in October. On a month-over-month basis, employment data was strong in Texas, which… Read More ›

Downshift for the Fed

Downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 50 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.5%. This marked a relatively smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes. The Fed has clearly communicated it will continue to tighten monetary policy however, raising… Read More ›

Custom Home Building Share Declines Slightly

According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), custom homes accounted for 17.6 percent of new single-family homes started—down slightly from the 17.8 percent recorded in 2020 and the lowest the annual custom home share has been since the 2005 re-design of the SOC.  The custom home market consists of contractor-built and owner-built houses—homes built one at… Read More ›

Builders Are Cutting Prices & Offering Incentives, But It’s Not 2008

In November of 2022, 36 percent of single-family home builders reported reducing their prices, and 59 percent were offering special sales incentives.  These percentages may seem relatively high—and in fact they have increased significantly since July of this year—but they are nowhere near as high as they were during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Questions on sales incentives have been a… Read More ›

AD&C Balances Continue to Rise

Residential construction loan volume reached a post-Great Recession high during the third quarter of 2022, as home building activity and new home sales remained weak. Outstanding builder loan balances are rising as development debt is being held longer as new homes remain in inventory longer. Loan balances will decline in coming quarters as the development loan market becomes more costly… Read More ›

Construction Job Openings Peaked for Cycle?

The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy declined in October, falling from 10.7 million open positions to 10.3 million. This represents a small decrease from a year ago (11.1 million), a sign the labor market is slowing in response to tighter monetary policy. The degree of this slowing will be critical for a potential downshift in the… Read More ›

New Home Sales Increase in October

New home sales rebounded in October despite higher mortgage rates, likely due to low existing home inventory and builders using incentives to attract buyers to the new home market. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated sales of newly built, single-family homes in October at a 632,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace, which is… Read More ›

97% Built-for-Rent Multifamily Construction Share

According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts remained elevated during the third quarter of 2022. At 141,000 units started, this was the largest quarter for rental multifamily construction since the second quarter of 1986. The market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts increased to 97% as the already small condo… Read More ›

Employment Situation in October: State-Level Analysis

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 42 states in October compared to the previous month while eight states and the District of Columbia lost jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 261,000 in October, following a gain of 315,000 jobs in September. On a month-over-month basis, employment data was strong in California, which… Read More ›

Townhouse Construction Market Share Rising

According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the third quarter of 2022 single-family attached starts totaled 38,000, which is 12% higher than the third quarter of 2021. Over the last four quarters, townhouse construction starts totaled 152,000 units, 7% higher than the prior four quarter total (142,000). However, these… Read More ›