Tag Archive for ‘housing’

New Home Sales Increase in July

Low existing inventory and solid demand more than offset rising mortgage rates and elevated construction costs to boost new home sales last month. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in July increased 4.4% to a 714,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in June, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban… Read More ›

Missing Middle Construction Weakens

The missing middle construction sector includes development of medium-density housing, such as townhouses, duplexes and other small multifamily properties. The multifamily segment of the missing middle (apartments in 2- to 4-unit properties) has disappointed since the Great Recession. For the second quarter of 2023, there were just 3,000 2- to 4-unit housing unit construction starts. This is down from a year prior…. Read More ›

Single-Family Home Size Moves Lower to More than a Decade Low

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 second quarter 2023 data… Read More ›

Declines for Custom Home Building

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 drop for construction starts. There were 49,000 total custom building starts during the second quarter of the year. This marks almost an 8% decline compared to the second quarter of 2022, consisting with… Read More ›

Flat Readings for Townhouse Construction

According to NAHB analysis of the most recent Census data of Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, during the second quarter of 2023, single-family attached starts totaled 38,000, which is flat relative to the second quarter of 2022. Nonetheless, over the last four quarters, townhouse construction starts totaled a solid 141,000 homes, which is almost 5% lower than the prior… Read More ›

Slight Decline for Single-Family Built-for-Rent

Single-family built-for-rent construction has cooled as investor interest has pulled back on tighter financial conditions. According to NAHB’s analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, there were approximately 20,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts during the second quarter of 2023. This is more than 4% lower than the second quarter of 2022. Over the… Read More ›

Single-Family Starts Edge Higher in July but Rising Rate Concerns Persist

A lack of existing inventory and solid demand for housing helped offset rising mortgage rates and push single-family production higher in July, even as builders continue to grapple with elevated construction and financing costs as well as a lack of skilled labor. Overall housing starts increased 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million units, according to a… Read More ›

Builder Confidence Falls on Rising Mortgage Rates

After steadily rising for seven consecutive months, builder confidence retreated in August as rising mortgage rates nearing 7% (per Freddie Mac) and stubbornly high shelter inflation have further eroded housing affordability and put a damper on consumer demand. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in August fell six points to 50, according to the National Association… Read More ›

Construction Job Openings Little Changed

The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy continued to moved lower in June, falling to 9.6 million. While ongoing tight labor market conditions have raised the likelihood of a September Federal Reserve interest rate increase, the JOLTS survey is another data point indicating an ongoing but gradual cooling of macro conditions due to elevated interest rates. The… Read More ›