Eye On Housing
An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended lower. According to first quarter 2023 data… Read More ›
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building gained market share during recent quarters but experienced a notable drop for construction starts at the beginning of 2023. There were 36,000 total custom building starts during the first quarter of the year. This marks a 22% decline compared to the first… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the first quarter of 2023, single-family attached starts totaled 29,000, which is 19% lower than the first quarter of 2022. Nonetheless, over the last four quarters, townhouse construction starts totaled a strong 141,000 homes, which is only 3% lower than the prior… Read More ›
A lack of existing inventory and stabilizing mortgage rates helped push single-family production up to the highest rate thus far in 2023 even as builders continue to deal with high construction costs, persistent labor shortages and tightening credit conditions for construction loans. Overall housing starts in April increased 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.40 million units, according… Read More ›
Over the first three months of 2023, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 191,695. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is 31.1% below the March 2022 level of 278,189. Year-to-date ending in March, single-family permits declined in all four regions. The Northeast posted a decline of 20.5%, while the West region reported the steepest decline… Read More ›
According to the latest May 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and analysis by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), half of payroll workers in construction earn more than $54,540 and the top 25% make at least $77,030. In comparison, the U.S. median wage is $46,310, while the top quartile (top 25%) makes at… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its May meeting. Although the communication from the Fed did not explicitly indicate that they are done tightening, language used in their statement signals the Fed is moving toward a more data-dependent posture, albeit one that retains a hawkish bias…. Read More ›
The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy declined again in March, falling to 9.6 million, after an 11.2 million reading in December, which was the highest level since July. The count of open jobs was 12 million a year ago in March 2022. The count of total job openings should continue to fall in 2023 as the… Read More ›
Despite a housing market slowdown but reflecting persistent long-term labor challenges, wages in construction continue to rise, often outpacing and exceeding typical earnings in other industries. According to the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), average hourly earnings (AHE) in construction vary greatly across 43 states that reported these data. Some of the… Read More ›
Lower mortgage rates and limited existing inventory helped to push new home sales up in March, even as builders continue to grapple with increased construction costs and material supply disruptions. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated sales of newly built, single-family homes in March at a 683,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace, which… Read More ›