Eye On Housing
Total housing starts expanded 9.8% month over month in June, reaching a 1.174 million annual starts pace, which was led by a surge in multifamily development. Single-family starts were effectively flat, recording a 0.9% monthly decline to a 685,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate but were up 14.7% year over year. As measured on a three-month moving average, the pace of… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘eye on the economy’
Consumer Prices Increased Broadly in June
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported consumer prices increased broadly in June. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9%, slower than 5.5% in May. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the “core” CPI rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.2% in June. Large swings in energy prices account for… Read More ›
Eye on the Economy: New and Existing Home Sales Increase
As the spring turned to summer, the pace of home sales increased nationwide. The rate of new single-family home sales, as estimated by the Census Bureau, improved to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000 in May, the fastest pace in seven years and a 2.2% increase over April. New home inventory remained steady at 206,000 units nationwide (completed and… Read More ›
Consumers Voice in June – Optimistic Outlook
Consumer sentiment and consumer confidence are two indexes showing consumers’ perceptions of current business, income and employment conditions, as well as their expectations for the future’s economy. In June, both the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment and the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose. These gains reflect continuing improvement in several sectors of the economy. Strong job gains… Read More ›
Housing Prices – Slowing to Sustainable Growth
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller recently released their respective home price indices for April. House prices have been recovering since reaching the bottom of the downturn in 2012. Both the new and existing single-family homes’ median sale prices are presented along with the home price index. All three indicators tell a similar story of rapid… Read More ›
Consumer Prices in May – Energy Prices Rose Sharply
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported consumer prices increased in May. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.5%, a large increase compared to 1.2% in April, and the first three months of this year. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the “core” CPI rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of… Read More ›
Eye on the Economy: Starts Fall but Builder Confidence and Permits on the Rise
The pace of housing construction slowed in May, after a post-winter rebound in April. However, forward-looking indicators, most notably the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index and the expansion of housing permits, suggest more growth ahead. The pace of housing starts in May declined 11.1% from an elevated April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.036 million single-family and multifamily… Read More ›
Eye on the Economy: April Data Indicates Sales Growth
April was a good month for housing. Contracts for new home sales, as reported by the Census Bureau and HUD, were up 6.8% over March, at a 517,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate. And these gains are significant relative to last year’s numbers: The average pace of new home sales for the first quarter of 2015 (514,000) was 26% higher than… Read More ›
Housing Recovery – Prices and Production
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller recently released the Home Price Index (HPI) for March. The price index reported by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) decelerated in March, slowing to an annualized growth rate of 4.2% from 7.8% in February. Monthly growth rates have been volatile but have trended down since the recent peak… Read More ›
Consumer Confidence Zigzags in 2015
Consumer sentiment and consumer confidence are two indexes showing consumers’ perceptions of current business, income and employment conditions, as well as their expectations for the future’s economy. They are both highly (inversely) correlated with the unemployment rate. Based on the data from the past three decades, the Consumer Confidence Index and the Consumer Sentiment Index increase when the unemployment rate… Read More ›