Eye On Housing
While nationwide single-family housing starts have slowed in the past year, the largest drop on a percentage basis is occurring in the densest counties, due to high housing costs. Meanwhile, multifamily growth was robust throughout much of the nation at the end of 2022, with the notable exception in high-density markets, according to the latest findings from the National Association… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘HBGI’
Multifamily Construction Continues to Expand Outside Metro Core Areas
The most recent Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) shows that multifamily home building has continued to experience strong growth since the start of the pandemic. Due to the low single-family housing inventory and elevated unaffordability of single-family housing caused by high house prices and higher mortgage rates, demand for multifamily housing has remained solid over the past year. Except for… Read More ›
Covid Era Impacts on Working from Home and Housing Market Impacts
While the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered many social and economic disruptions, it has also changed working arrangements and has accelerated the shift to work from home (WFH). During the COVID-19 outbreak in the early of 2020, many businesses across the United States closed and millions of workers experienced the work from home trend out of necessity. This sudden and massive… Read More ›
Metro Areas Trail Lower Density Markets for Apartment Construction Growth
In the first quarter of 2022, multifamily home building showed greater growth across all regional markets compared to the first quarter of 2021, per the NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). Apartment construction far outpaced single-family building in all regional geographies but especially in lower density markets1. Low rental vacancy rates and rising rents gave multifamily developers confidence to continue… Read More ›
Large Metro Suburban Single-family Construction Slows
Recent developments in the first quarter of 2022 per NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), indicate single-family home building slowing in suburbs, with most other regional geographies following suit. Following the aftermath of COVID-19, home buyer preferences for the suburbs have eased. Supply-chain challenges and unfavorable economic conditions have reduced the pace of single-family residential construction across all regional submarkets…. Read More ›
Single-family Regional Growth Decelerates in Second Half of 2021
Per the latest results of NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI), single-family home building showed higher growth rates across all regional submarkets in the fourth quarter of 2021, relative to the fourth quarter of 2020. Quarterly growth, however, trended downwards for all regions in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. Supply-side constraints and expectations of rising interest rates, particularly… Read More ›
Home Building Shows Ongoing Growth in Second Home Counties
Per the latest results of NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index, in the third quarter of 2021, both single-family and multifamily home building showed gains in second home counties. This marked a reversal for multifamily after weakness last year. Second home counties are defined by NAHB as those having a high proportion of housing units that are not their owners’ primary… Read More ›
Strong Regional Growth Amid Lessened Suburban Shift: Q3 2021 HBGI
The suburban shift for single-family home building, which was precipitated in large part by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year continues. But new data reveals that higher density markets are making a comeback as well, according to the third quarter edition of the NAHB Home Building Geography Index (HBGI). As more workers transition back to the workplace, there… Read More ›
HBGI: Small Outlying Counties Have Greatest Share of Most Affordable Markets
Housing affordability has been a key driver of the suburban shift of home building activity over the last year and a half. As the following analysis from the NAHB Home Building Geography Index reveals, lower density markets in general have higher housing affordability conditions, which explains the shift in construction activity. The second quarter HBGI examined county-level Price-to-Income ratios. The… Read More ›
Q1 2021 HBGI: Home Building and Commuting
In addition to its analysis on areas with the longest commuting times, the Q1 2021 Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) features two other Commute-to-Work data series: counties with top shares of bicycle commuters (i.e., greater than or equal to 0.5 percent) and counties with top shares1 of work-from-home workers (greater than or equal to 6.6 percent). Single-family and multifamily housing… Read More ›