Eye On Housing

• Home Prices Rose in All 20 Metro Areas in November
  The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 6.2% in November, following a 5.1% increase in October. It was the highest gain since February 2018. On a year-over-year basis, the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 3.5% annual […]
• New Home Sales End 2019 with 10% Gain
  New home sales were effectively flat in December, after downward revisions for prior months. However, the sales pace for newly-built single-family homes ended 2019 with a gain of 10%, increasing to a total of 681,000. This marks 2019 as the best year for new home sales since the Great Recession. Contracts for new, single-family home […]
• Improved Expectations of Housing Availability among Home Buyers
  In the final quarter of 2019, home buyers are less likely (65%) to think housing availability will get harder (or stay the same) than in the final quarter of 2018 (72%).  Put another way, fewer home buyers expect housing availability to worsen.  On the contrary, the share of optimistic buyers expecting an easier home search […]
• U.S. Population Grows Slower
  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Annual Resident Population of the United States as of July 1, 2019 was estimated at 328.2 million, increasing by 1.6 million from the previous year. Additionally, there was a significant downward revision to the national population estimated for 2018, by 480 thousand, to 326.7 million, effectively reducing the […]
• NAHB 2020 “Priced Out” Estimates
  NAHB recently released its 2020 priced out estimates. The new estimates show that, if the median new home price goes up by $1,000, 158,857 households would be priced out of the housing market nationwide. In other words, based on their incomes, 158,857 households would be able to qualify for a mortgage to purchase the home […]
• Remodelers’ Confidence Increases in Fourth Quarter of 2019
  The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a reading of 58 in the fourth quarter of 2019, up three points from the previous quarter (Figure 1). The RMI has been consistently above 50—indicating that more remodelers report market activity is higher compared to the prior quarter than report it is […]
• Existing Home Sales End Year with Solid Gain
  After a slight decline last month, existing home sales, released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), surged to near two-year high in December. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.54 million in December, the highest level since February 2018. On a […]
• Age-Restricted Homes Slightly Smaller, Pricier than Others Started in 2018
  Of the roughly 875,000 single-family and 375,0000 multifamily homes started in 2018, 29,000 and 31,000, respectively, were age-restricted according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and partially funded by HUD).  A housing development can legally restrict the ages of its residents, provided it conforms […]
• Custom Home Building Annual Share
  According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), the custom home share declined to 19.5 percent of all single-family homes started in 2018—lowest since mid-2000. Contractor-built or owner-built houses – that together make up the custom home market – are built one at a time for owner occupancy on owner’s land with […]
• Share of First-Time Home Buyers Rises Significantly in the Final Quarter of 2019
  According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report, the share of adults who are considering purchasing a home in the next 12 months fell to 11% in the final quarter of 2019, down from 13% a year earlier.  This decline marks the fifth consecutive year-over-year drop in the share of American adults planning to buy a […]