Eye On Housing
NAHB has estimated that as a result of current economic conditions, there are approximately 2.1 million households that were expected to form in the last few years but did not. These “potential” households typically represent people doubling and tripling up on roommates and young adults living with parents. Unlocking this pent-up demand, a process that will be facilitated by an… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘home building’
NAHB’s Spring 2012 Construction Forecast Webinar
Sign up for NAHB’s April 25, 2012 Construction Forecast Webinar and join the conversation about the housing market. David Crowe, NAHB Chief Economist Chris Varvares, President, Macroeconomic Advisers Robert Denk, NAHB Assistant Vice President for Forecasting and Analysis Listen to the experts. Ask your questions. NAHB Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is up 14 points over the past six… Read More ›
Pending Home Sales Index Up Over Year, Down Slightly in February
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed, decreased 0.5 percent in February to 96.5, down from 97.0 in January. However, the PHSI is up 9.2 percent from the same period one year ago when the PHSI was 88.4. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that over the past year the PHSI increased in the… Read More ›
New Home Sales Stall
The rate of new home sales fell in February to an annual pace of 313,000 down 1.6% from January’s 318,000 but off 6.8% from December’s revised 336,000, which marked a high point since the end of the home buyer tax credit in spring 2010. The three-month moving average sales pace remains the highest in almost two years. The fall off… Read More ›
Property Taxes Remain Historically High
Property taxes are an important source of revenue for state and local governments to finance government services, particularly education. And despite claims to the contrary, property tax payments continue to provide an outsized share of state and local tax collections. In fact, Census data of state and local government tax collections for the final quarter of 2011 indicate a small… Read More ›
Construction Employment Continues to Grow in 2012
The year 2011 was the first year since 2006 for which the overall construction sector added net jobs. And January data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the construction sector continues to expand. For the economy as whole, hiring continues at rates that add net jobs to the economy. The… Read More ›
Producer Prices in February – Higher Prices for Gypsum
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for February last week (PPI). The PPI for finished goods rose 0.4 percent in February from January on a seasonally adjusted basis. Excluding food and energy, the core index for finished goods rose 0.2 percent. The monthly data can be volatile, but these growth rates are roughly in… Read More ›
February Housing Starts Pause
Single-family housing starts declined almost 10 percent in February from an elevated January due to abnormally warm weather country wide. February also has above average temperatures but not as off-normal as January. In addition, buyers are meeting the harsh realities of tight credit standards and poor appraisals that don’t account for the condition of the distressed sales used as comparables…. Read More ›