Eye On Housing

• FHA-Backed Mortgages Finance Increasing Share of New Home Sales
  NAHB analysis of the most recent Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing published by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that conventional loans accounted for 71.3% of new home sales in the first quarter of 2019, a 3.3-percentage point decrease from Q4 2018 (revised). The decline comes despite lower mortgage rates, continuing a post-2012 pattern in […]
• Conventional Mortgages Outpace Government Mortgages for Purchase
  The latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey for the week ending on April 19 show a decrease in purchasing and refinancing activities, with refinancing decreasing for the third consecutive week. On a seasonally adjusted basis, refinancing activity decreased by 11%. March showed a strong rally in purchasing activity, evidenced by the […]
• New Home Sales Rise in March with Lower Rates
  Contracts for new, single-family home sales increased almost 5% on a monthly basis to a 692,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The months’ supply number improved to 6.0, which indicates the market is stabilizing after the fall off in sales last Fall due […]
• Existing Home Sales Declined in March
  After a strong gain in February, existing home sales, released by the National Association of Realtors, fell back in March despite lower interest rates and a strong labor market. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.21 million in March. On a […]
• Housing Construction Weakness Continued in March
  According to a estimates from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Department, single-family starts continued to show weakness in March, despite the recent stabilization in the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). After downward revisions made to the February data, single-family starts were down 0.4% to a 785,000 seasonally adjusted annual pace in […]
• Remodelers’ Confidence Falls Three Points in First Quarter
  The Remodeling Market Index (RMI) fell three points to 54 in the first quarter of 2019, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Despite the drop, the RMI is still over the index break-even point of 50, which indicates that more remodelers report that market activity is higher than report it is lower, compared […]
• Home Building Employment Across States and Congressional Districts
  A new NAHB study presents the most recent and comprehensive estimates of home building employment, including self-employed workers, by state and congressional district. NAHB Economics estimates that out of 10.3 million people working in construction in 2017, more than 4 million people worked in residential construction, accounting for 2.6% of the US employed civilian labor […]
• Builder Confidence Edges Higher in April
  Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes rose one point to 63 in April, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. Sentiment levels have held in the low 60s for the past three months. Builders report solid demand for new single-family homes but are […]
• Single-Family Permit Decline in February
  Over the first two months of 2019, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 116,189. On a year-over-year basis, this is a 6.2% decline over the February 2018 level of 123,871. Year-to-date ending in February, single-family permits reported growth only in the Northeast region of the country. The South, Midwest, and […]
• How Much Are Buyers Willing to Pay for Energy Efficiency?
  On average, home buyers are willing to pay an additional $8,728 upfront on a home in order to save $1,000 a year in utility bills, according to NAHB’s recently released study, What Home Buyers Really Want (2019 Edition) (Figure 1). The study is based on a survey asking recent and prospective home buyers (people who […]