Housing Starts Post Solid Gain in May

Limited existing inventory combined with solid demand and improving supply chains helped push single-family starts to an 11-month high in May. Overall housing starts in May increased 21.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.63 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. It takes 400 tons…

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Single-Family Starts Show Gradual Improvement in April

A lack of existing inventory and stabilizing mortgage rates helped push single-family production up to the highest rate thus far in 2023 even as builders continue to deal with high construction costs, persistent labor shortages and tightening credit conditions for construction loans. Overall housing starts in April increased 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.40 million units, according…

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Housing Affordability is a Big Challenge

Last month, I wrote about how population growth is one of the biggest drivers of the entire housing market, including new and existing homes. Why? Because population growth helps drive housing formations. The majority of household formations occur when a group of young Millennials or Gen-Zers leave their parents’ basements and decide to room together, usually in connection with a…

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The AVP Pulse Index for April

April 20, 2023 – The AVP Pulse Index for April – brought to you by Rock Products and Allen-Villere Partners – ticked up slightly by +0.6%, maintaining the steady flattening observed a couple of months ago, and where we believe the index will remain for the foreseeable future. This increase reflects a healthy Construction Materials Industry and demonstrates the start of an…

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New Home Sales Remain Relatively Flat in February

Higher mortgage rates and home prices, as well as increased construction costs contributed to lackluster new home sales in February, but signs point to improvement later in the year. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in February increased 1.1% to a 640,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in January, according to newly released data by the…

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Single-Family Starts Remain Lackluster

Single-family production remained at an anemic pace in February as builders continue to wrestle with elevated mortgage rates, high construction costs and tightening credit conditions that threaten to be exacerbated by recent turmoil in the banking system. Led by gains in apartment construction, overall housing starts in February increased 9.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million units,…

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January Housing Starts Decrease 4.5%

Although rising builder sentiment indicates a turning point for housing later this year, lackluster single-family production in January is a sign that the housing sector faces further challenges, as elevated mortgage rates and high construction costs continue to put a damper on the market. Overall housing starts decreased 4.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million units, according…

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Shortages Start to Ease

We have all suffered through the shortages and supply chain disruptions the pandemic thrust upon the global economy and threw manufacturing and retail inventories into a tizzy. But we are now witnessing the easing of shortages as ports become unclogged, factory workers return to their production jobs, and trucking and rail is stabilizing.  For the aggregates industry, the shortages were…

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