Eye On Housing
High mortgage rates that approached 8% earlier this month continue to hammer builder confidence, but recent economic data suggest housing conditions may improve in the coming months. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in November fell six points to 34 in November, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI)…. Read More ›
During the third quarter of 2023, availability of loans for residential Land Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) continued to tighten, according to both NAHB’s survey on AD&C Financing and the Federal Reserve’s survey of senior loan officers. Each of the surveys produces a net easing index that is positive when credit is easing and negative when credit is tightening. In… Read More ›
Porches have been a popular home feature, consistently ranking in the top 10 in the NAHB surveys of recent and prospective home buyers published in What Home Buyers Really Want. And porches remain as popular as ever specifically on new homes, according to NAHB tabulation of the latest Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee held the federal funds rate at a top target rate of 5.5% at the conclusion of its November meeting. While noting that the Fed was “strongly” committed to reducing inflation to its target rate, this marked the second meeting in a row of no increase as the central bank examines incoming data. The Fed’s… Read More ›
Financial conditions continue to be tight, as the 10-year Treasury rate stands near 4.8% this morning. Among the factors leading to higher rates (more debt issuance, higher-for-longer monetary policy expectations, long-term fiscal deficit conditions, and strong current GDP growth data for the third quarter) is an ongoing, elevated count of open jobs for the overall economy. In September, the number… Read More ›
Housing’s share of the economy remained at 15.9% at the end of the third quarter of 2023. Overall GDP increased at a 4.9% annual rate, following a 2.1% increase in the second quarter of 2023 and 2.2% increase in the first quarter of 2023. Housing’s share of GDP remained at 15.9% for the third consecutive quarter in 2023. In the… Read More ›
Despite mortgage rates that are at a 23-year high, new home sales posted a double-digit percentage gain in September because of a lack of inventory in the resale market. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated sales of newly built, single-family homes in September at a 759,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace, which is… Read More ›
Despite elevated mortgage rates averaging above 7%, single-family starts posted a solid gain in September as more buyers are turning to new homes because of a dearth of inventory in the resale market. Overall housing starts increased 7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing… Read More ›
Stubbornly high mortgage rates that have climbed to a 23-year high and have remained above 7% for the past two months continue to take a heavy toll on builder confidence, as sentiment levels have dropped to the lowest point since January 2023. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in October fell four points to 40 from… Read More ›
The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the third quarter of 2023 posted a reading of 65, edging down 3 points from the previous quarter. While there is still demand for remodeling, some customers are pulling back on potential projects due to higher prices and increased interest rates. Even though remodeling spending has experienced some slow down over the… Read More ›