Eye On Housing
Contracts for new, single-family home sales were flat at a 745,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in October according to estimates from the joint release of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the flat reading was due to a significant downward revision for the September pace (revised from an 800,00 rate to… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts declined to 93.4% during the third quarter of 2021. This is the lowest share since the first quarter of 2020. In contrast, the historical low share of 47% was set during the third quarter of 2005, during the condo building boom. An… Read More ›
An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Recent data confirms this impact on the market continues to occur. According to third quarter 2021 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area increased… Read More ›
In the third quarter of 2021, effective interest rates increased on all four categories of loans tracked in NAHB’s Survey on Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C). This result reverses a general downward trend that had prevailed since the third quarter of last year. In the third quarter of 2021, the average effective rate (based on rate of return to the… Read More ›
NAHB’s analysis of Census Data from the Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design survey indicates custom home building matched the best quarter for construction starts since the spring of 2008 during the third quarter of 2021. There were 56,000 total custom building starts during the third quarter of the year. This marks a 5.7% gain from the third quarter of… Read More ›
The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, including townhouses, duplexes and other small multifamily properties. While townhouse construction has trended higher in recent quarters, the multifamily segment of the missing middle (apartments in 2 to 4 unit properties) has shown weakness. For the third quarter of 2021, there were only 2,000 starts of such residences. Over the… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, townhouse construction in the third quarter of 2021 continued to show year-over-year construction increases. As housing demand has shifted to more suburban and exurban areas and housing affordability headwinds persist, medium-density construction lagged for much of 2020. However, demand for medium density neighborhoods… Read More ›
Single-family housing production lagged in October due to supply-chain effects for materials and ongoing access issues for labor and lots. Overall housing starts decreased 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The October reading of 1.52 million starts… Read More ›
Low existing inventories and strong buyer demand helped push builder confidence higher for the third consecutive month even as supply-side challenges – including building material bottlenecks and lot and labor shortages – remain stubbornly persistent. Builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes moved three points higher to 83 in November, according to the National Association of Home… Read More ›
Friday’s post described how, in the construction industry, job layoffs have plunged while unfilled job positions remain elevated (according to the government’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover report). If more evidence of a severe supply chain challenge is needed, the record percentages of NAHB members reporting labor shortages in recent surveys can provide it. Let’s turn first to the… Read More ›