Eye On Housing

• Lower Interest Rates, Rising Consumer Confidence Boost Builder Sentiment
  Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes rose four points to 62 in February, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Ongoing reduction in mortgage rates in recent weeks coupled with continued strength in the job market are helping to fuel builder sentiment. In the aftermath […]
• Interest Rates on Construction Loans Showed Rising Trend in 2018
  Interest rates on loans for residential acquisition, development, and construction (AD&C) generally increased throughout 2018, according to results from NAHB’s fourth quarter AD&C survey.  For the fourth quarter, builders and developers responding to the survey reported a median interest rate that varied from 5.75% on loans for pre-sold single-family construction, to 5.88% on loans for land […]
• Serious Delinquency Rate Continues its Decline
  The most recent results of the National Delinquency Survey produced by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) show that, as of the 4th quarter of 2018, mortgage servicers serviced 29.9 million non-government-insured mortgages, also known as conventional mortgages. Beginning with the first quarter of 2017, the MBA had discontinued its long-held classification of conventional loans into […]
• What Do Vacancy Rates Tell Us about the Shortage of Housing?
  Vacancy rates are one of the key statistics NAHB Economics tracks to judge the health and direction of the housing market. The currently low homeowner and rental vacancy rates are typically interpreted as a sign of tight housing markets, with lower vacancy rates signaling a greater housing shortage. NAHB’s analysis of the latest 2017 ACS […]
• Gypsum, OSB, and Softwood Lumber Prices Decline in January
  Overall, the price of goods used in residential construction declined 0.5% in January (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In contrast to December–when prices paid for building materials (except OSB) changed little–prices fell by an average of 2.9% in January. Prices paid for […]
• Housing Affordability Holds Steady at a 10-Year Low in the Fourth Quarter
  A modest increase in interest rates offset a slight decline in home prices to keep housing affordability essentially level in the fourth quarter of 2018 and still hovering at a 10-year low, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 56.6 percent of new and existing homes […]
• Home Prices Are the Principal Barrier to Homeownership
  As revealed in a previous post, 58% of buyers actively searching for a home to buy in the fourth quarter of 2018 have been looking – unsuccessfully – for three months or longer. Why is it taking these buyers that long to pull the trigger?  The most important reason is they can’t find a home […]
• Energy Prices Continue to Fall
  The CPI was unchanged in January. The decrease in energy prices in January offset increases in the “core” CPI and the food index. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), was unchanged in January on a seasonally adjusted basis. The CPI remained unchanged for the third consecutive month. Over […]
• Construction Job Openings Jump in December
  Despite the housing-focused slowdown during the second half of 2018, the count of unfilled jobs in the construction sector surged in December. According to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and NAHB analysis, the number of open construction sector jobs increased to a cycle high of 382,000 in December. This is significantly higher than […]
• Characteristics of Recent Home Buyers
  A total of 8.8 million households bought homes in the two years preceding the release of the 2017 American Housing Survey (AHS).  For its February Special Study, the National Association of Home Builders used the 2017 AHS to analyze trends among recent home buyers. The AHS is a nationally representative survey of residential structures in […]