Eye On Housing

• New Home Sales Decline in May
  Contracts for new, single-family home sales declined to a 626,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in May according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. This was a surprising drop due to recent softening of mortgage interest rates and continued low unemployment. Recent months’ data have been relatively positive, with the […]
• Existing Home Sales Bounced Back in May
  Boosted by lower mortgage rates, existing home sales, released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), rebounded in May. This is the first gain in two months. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, climbed 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million in May. On a year-over-year basis, sales […]
• Texas Leads Job Gains in May
  Total nonfarm employment, seasonally adjusted (SA) increased by 2.4 million jobs, year-over-year (YoY), or 1.6% from May 2018 to May 2019. During this time, total nonfarm employment in the Western region increased by 2.0%. The South, Northeast, and Midwest recorded gains at 1.6%, 0.9% and 0.8% respectively, during this time. According to the Bureau of […]
• Minority Homeownership Rate Drops in the First Quarter of 2019
  Every quarter the US Census Bureau publishes results from its Housing Vacancies and Homeownership Survey (CPS/HVS). In the first quarter of 2019 the U.S. homeownership rate stood at 64.2 percent, unchanged from its level during the same time last year, but slightly down from the fourth quarter of 2018 (64.8 percent) (Figure 1). A recent […]
• A Nation of Builders
  Every year the National Association of Home Builders conducts a member census to better understand the composition and characteristics of the people who belong to its organization. In 2018, 32 percent of NAHB’s members were builders—those whose primary business is single-family home building, multifamily building, residential or commercial remodeling, commercial building, land development, or manufacturing […]
• Refinance Activity Surges on a Year-over-Year Basis
  Data from the latest survey of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey show small year-over-year gains in purchasing activity and larger year-over-year gains in refinancing activity. The Primary Market Mortgage Survey indicated no change in the 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) from the previous week, at a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 3.8%. However, two […]
• Housing Starts Relatively Flat in May
  Total housing starts posted a 0.9 percent decrease in May (1.269 million units) compared to an upwardly revised April estimate of 1.281 million units, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD. Relative to May 2018, total starts are 4.7 percent below the annual pace of 1.332 million units. Single-family production […]
• Builder Confidence Solid in June Amidst Growing Economic Uncertainty
  Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes fell two points to 64 in June, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Sentiment levels have held at a solid range in the low- to mid-60s for the past five months. While demand for single-family homes remains sound, […]
• Single-Family Permit Continues To Be Weak in April
  Over the first four months of 2019, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 261,119. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a 6.5% decline over the April 2018 level of 279,302. Year-to-date ending in April, single-family permits reported growth only in the Northeast region of the country. The South, Midwest, […]
• Homeowners Cautious with Lines of Credit Despite Equity Gains
  The current release of the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts report of the U.S., also known as the flow of funds report, shows a continuing increase in the market value of households in the U.S. Mortgage debt continues to expand as well, albeit at a much slower pace. The aggregate market value of houses represents […]