Eye On Housing
The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the fourth quarter of 2022 posted a reading of 66, falling 17 points from the fourth quarter of 2021. While there is a sharp decline in RMI year-over-year, it remains in positive territory as remodeling continues to outperform the rest of the residential construction sector, whether one looks at construction spending or… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘housing’
Builder Confidence Uptick Signals Turning Point for Housing Lies Ahead
A modest drop in interest rates helped to end a string of 12 straight monthly declines in builder confidence levels, although sentiment remains in bearish territory as builders continue to grapple with elevated construction costs, building material supply chain disruptions and challenging affordability conditions. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in January rose four points to… Read More ›
Material Shortages Ease, With Notable Exceptions
In May of last year, Eye on Housing reported on historically widespread shortages of building materials. Since then, most of the shortages have eased; the major exceptions being shortages of HVAC equipment and certain categories of ceramic materials (ceramic tiles, clay bricks and cement-based building materials), which have gotten slightly worse. NAHB has been tracking shortages of building materials and… Read More ›
Construction Job Openings Likely Peaked
The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy declined slightly in November, falling from 10.51 million open positions to 10.46 million. This represents a decrease from a year ago (10.92 million), a sign the labor market is slowing in response to tighter monetary policy. The degree of this slowing will be critical for the ongoing downshift in the… Read More ›
November New Home Sales Up as Interest Rates Fall Back
While new home sales received a slight bounce in November from moderating mortgage rates, the housing market continues to struggle because of ongoing supply chain disruptions, elevated construction costs, and challenging affordability conditions. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in November increased 5.8% to a 640,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of… Read More ›
Nine Percent of New Homes Are Teardowns
In 2021, 9.1 percent of new single-family homes were built in an older neighborhood on a site where a previous structure had to be torn down and rebuilt, according to the latest Builder Practices Survey (BPS) conducted by Home Innovation Research Labs. Another 18.5 percent were built on an infill lot in an older neighborhood. The BPS places new homes… Read More ›
Single-Family Production Continues to Decline, Multifamily Permits Weakening
Single-family housing starts continued to fall in November, with the pace of construction down 32% since February when mortgage rates began to rise. The housing market continues to weaken because stubbornly high construction costs and elevated interest rates are harming housing affordability. And with the count of multifamily units under construction reaching a near 50-year high, multifamily permit growth is… Read More ›
Reflecting a Weakening Housing Market, Builder Confidence Declined Every Month in 2022
High mortgage rates, elevated construction costs running well above the inflation rate, and flagging consumer demand due to deteriorating affordability conditions have dragged builder sentiment down every month in 2022. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes posted its 12th straight monthly decline in December, dropping two points to 31, according to the National Association of Home… Read More ›
The Size of the Housing Shortage: 2021 Data
Reflecting the unprecedented housing shortages across the United States in the post-pandemic market, U.S. vacancy rates hit their lowest readings in decades in 2021. According to NAHB’s analysis of the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), owner vacancy rates dropped below 0.9% and rental vacancy rates reached a new low of 5.2%, the lowest levels recorded by the ACS since the… Read More ›
Downshift for the Fed
Downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 50 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.5%. This marked a relatively smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes. The Fed has clearly communicated it will continue to tighten monetary policy however, raising… Read More ›