Eye On Housing
For some home buyers, housing affordability improved in the last 12 months. According to the Housing Trends Report for the third quarter of 2020, 27% of buyers report being able to afford half or more of the homes available for-sale in their markets. A year earlier, that share was 20%. The increase is an indication that lower mortgage rates have… Read More ›
Strong new and existing home sales in the summer of 2020 may have been a factor contributing to buyers’ improved expectations for housing availability. According to the latest Housing Trends Report**, 28% of prospective buyers in the third quarter of 2020 expect their search for a home to become easier in the months ahead, while 61% percent expect it will… Read More ›
According to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, the share of new homes started with 5,000 square feet or more of living space stood at 2.71 percent in 2019, down slightly from 2.88 percent in 2018. A total of 24,000 5,000+ square-foot homes were started in 2019, compared to 25,000 in 2018. The slight decline in 5,000+ square foot homes… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report, the share of Americans who are considering the purchase of a home in the next 12 months was 13% in the third quarter of 2020, one percentage point higher than a year earlier and the first year-over-year gain in the 3-year history of this series. The gain shows the COVID-19 crisis has impacted… Read More ›
About 3 out of every 10 American adults are currently working from home, on a full- or part-time basis. The finding comes from a recent poll of a representative sample of over 17,000 adults conducted for NAHB by Morning Consult. Gen Z’s made up 12% of respondents, Millennials and Gen X’ers were each 26%, and Boomers another 33%. In terms… Read More ›
As lockdown orders began to ease in May and June 2020, housing data rebounded quickly, providing evidence that this industry is positioned to lead the economy forward. Single-family permits rose almost 12% in May, mortgage applications are at their highest level since January 2020, and builder sentiment, measured by the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), jumped 21 points in… Read More ›
The residential remodeling industry, just like any other private industry in the American economy, operates on the basis of competition and profits. Companies enter, stay or exit the industry of their own volition, driven by consumer demand for their services and the expectation of a rate of return commensurate with the risk taken. Because reliable information is critical to make… Read More ›
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey conducted in May 2020 reveals that 48% of single-family builders are not using incentives to bolster sales and/or limit cancellations. This of course implies that slightly more than half, 52%, are using some kind of incentive to achieve that objective. What specific incentives are they using? Figure 1 shows the complete list, but… Read More ›
The housing market did not escape the pain and contraction experienced by the US economy in April 2020 as a result of the lockdown orders issued by state and local governments to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Builder confidence posted a historic decline and there were broad declines for housing starts. In recent weeks, there has been anecdotal… Read More ›
As revealed in a previous post, 56% of buyers who are actively engaged in the process of finding a home have spent upwards of 3 months searching unsuccessfully. What is holding them back? 40% say they can’t find a home at a price they can afford and 32% each say they can’t find a home with the features they want… Read More ›