Eye On Housing
To fight persistent inflation, the Federal Reserve has committed to significantly cooling demand. This approach reflects a non-monetary policy failure to fix underlying supply-side challenges that are pushing up inflation. The Fed lacks policy tools to make these supply-side fixes, so it must rely on demand-side impacts to bring down inflation by reducing economic growth. Consequently, at the conclusion of… Read More ›
Rising inflation and higher mortgage rates are slowing traffic of prospective home buyers and putting a damper on builder sentiment. In a troubling sign for the housing market, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes posted its sixth straight monthly decline in June, falling two points to 67, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells… Read More ›
Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), NAHB Economics estimates that a home purchase triggers significant spending on appliances, furnishings, and remodeling. NAHB’s most recent estimates are based on the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 data and show that during the first year after closing on the house, a typical buyer of a newly-built single-family detached… Read More ›
The construction labor market remains tight, as the industry sees a rising number of job openings year-over-year. The count of open construction jobs jumped to 449,000 unfilled positions in April. This is the highest measure in the history of the data series (going back to late 2000). The housing market remains underbuilt and requires additional labor, lots and lumber and… Read More ›
Over the past 12 months, the cost to multifamily developers of compensating their employees increased by an average of nearly 12 percent, according to results from NAHB’s latest Multifamily Market Survey (MMS). The first quarter 2022 MMS, sent electronically to a panel of multifamily developers on April 12, included a special question on how much compensation costs have increased for… Read More ›
As National Home Remodeling Month draws to close, Eye on Housing reports on the most common projects undertaken by NAHB Remodelers during the previous calendar year—in this case, 2021. The results come from a special question included in the first quarter 2022 survey for the NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI). At the top of the list, 81 percent of… Read More ›
According to NAHB analysis of quarterly Census data, the count of multifamily, for-sale housing starts increased during the first quarter of 2022. At 11,000 units started, this was the best quarter for condo construction since the third quarter of 2008. As a result, the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts decreased to 91% during the first quarter… 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. According to first quarter 2022 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, median single-family square floor area inched down to 2,310 square feet. Average (mean) square footage for new… Read More ›
New single-family home sales posted a significant decline in April as housing demand deteriorated in the face of rising interest rates. After starting at 3.1% in December, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased to 5.1% by the end of April, per Freddie Mac. Additionally, builders continue to grapple with supply-chain issues, limiting inventory in a market for which new… 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 disappointed. For 2021, there were only 12,000 starts of such residences. This is flat from from 2020, during a period… Read More ›