Eye On Housing
The Census Bureau’s newest release on construction spending showed a 2.8 percent increase in spending activity for private residential projects in May 2012. On a three-month moving average basis, spending has increased during each of the last 8 months. This release also featured revisions to prior estimates dating back to January 2010. While the modest upswing in total private residential… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘multifamily’
Homebuilders Struggle to Add to Payrolls
Starts of new single-family homes have jumped approximately 26% since May 2011 (and more than 46% since bottoming out in early 2009). Unfortunately, the rebound in starts does not appear to have bolstered job creation within the residential construction sector as payrolls have inched 1% higher in the past year. The homebuilding industry as a whole, which includes building contractors… Read More ›
Multifamily Starts Drop in May
Total housing starts declined in May due to a 21.3% drop in multifamily construction. The annualized rate of starts for housing units in properties with five or more units fell from 236,000 to 179,000 in May. However, the starts rate for multifamily units typically displays a great deal of volatility. Under a three-month moving average, the five-plus starts rate fell… Read More ›
NAHB’s MVI Indicates Improving Conditions in the Rental Apartment Market
In the first quarter of 2012, NAHB’s Multifamily Vacancy Index (MVI) dropped to 31, the lowest it’s been since the inception of the index in 2003. As the MVI captures industry sentiment about vacancies, a decline in the index signals overall improvement in the market for existing rental apartments. The MVI is a composite measure of multifamily property owner/manager sentiment… Read More ›
NAHB’s MPI Shows Ongoing Improvement in Multifamily Production
In the first quarter of 2012, NAHB’s Multifamily Production Index (MPI) continued to show improvement, increasing from 49 in the fourth quarter to 51. This is the highest the MPI has been since the third quarter of 2005 and marks the seventh consecutive quarter that the index has increased. The MPI is a composite measure of builder/developer sentiment about production… Read More ›
Multifamily Market Absorption Slows at the Beginning of 2012
Data from the Survey of Market Absorption of Apartments (SOMA), produced by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, reflect the slowdown experienced for housing during the first quarter of 2012. It is worth noting that the SOMA data are published with some time lag, and housing indicators have improved since the time period for which the most… Read More ›
Private Residential Construction Spending Surges in April
Today’s construction spending release from the Census Bureau revealed a strong 2.8 percent jump in spending on private residential projects during April 2012. The initial estimates for February and March were revised from -2.2% and 0.7% to 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. Overall, private residential construction spending has increased in each of the last 9 months. New single-family construction activity continued… Read More ›
Eye on the Economy: Improvement for Housing
*Eye on the Economy is an NAHB newsletter that is published every two weeks and takes a larger view of recent economic and housing policy news. After soft economic and housing reports for February and March, recent data suggest a return to the trend of housing market improvement – a fitting theme for May, National Home Remodeling month. Leading the… Read More ›
Five-Plus Starts Sustain Longest Stretch Above 200K Since 2008
In April, the (seasonally adjusted) annual rate of starts in buildings with five or more apartments increased by 4 percent from the revised figure for March, to 217,000. However, the biggest multifamily news in the latest release from the Census Bureau’s Manufacturing and Construction Division lies in the revisions to previous numbers. The five-plus starts rate for February was revised upward by 8… Read More ›
Falling Energy Prices Weigh on CPI
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged between March and April 2012. Energy prices played a major role once again in shaping the CPI’s trajectory, but this month it put downward pressure on the overall CPI as the CPI for energy slumped 1.7 percent versus March. Gasoline accounted… Read More ›