Higher mortgage rates averaging above 7% put a damper on single-family production in August, as builders also continue to face supply-side challenges in the form of elevated construction costs, a lack of skilled labor and a shortage of buildable lots. Led by a sharp decline in multifamily production, overall housing starts fell 11.3% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual…
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The Cooling Distribution Center Market
A couple of months ago, I wrote about the cooling housing market, observing that just as in every prior rising interest rate environment, housing sales have fallen, and new home starts are contracting. This has been true at least 10 times throughout my 50-year career, especially during the Paul Volker and Alan Greenspan stewardships of the Federal Reserve, when both…
Read MoreIs The New Home Market Cooling?
I wrote recently about how the housing market continues to show strength, driven in part by buoyant builder sentiment, low inventories and high demand across all price points. That was back in the fall, and while all signs point to strong new home demand through this spring and summer, a new confluence of pressures could force a tamping down of…
Read MoreThe Wealth Gap Expands and Consumer Debt Pinches Housing
By: Pierre G. Villere The expanding wealth gap in America may explain why Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have centered their presidential campaign messages on this topic. Indeed, after studying these metrics, I was surprised by what I found.
Read MoreMillennials Are Still on the Housing Sidelines
By: Pierre G. Villere After years of expectations that the housing market would come back to at least its average historical levels of annual starts, The Wall Street Journal recently conducted research that indicates the U.S. housing market is still waiting for a buying surge from the Millennial generation that entered the workforce during the recession, and some of the…
Read MoreNAHB Economist Addresses Housing Market
Despite growing housing affordability concerns, builder confidence in the single-family market remains solid, according to National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Chief Economist Robert Dietz. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came in at a level of 67 in August, a one-point drop from last month. This matched the relatively flat pace of construction in July, with total housing starts up less than…
Read MoreHousing Recovery Continues at Modest Pace
Markets in 162 of the approximately 340 metro areas nationwide returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity in the third quarter of 2016, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI). This represents a year-over-year net gain of 73 markets.
Read MoreHousing Markets Continue Gains
Markets in 68 of the approximately 360 metro areas nationwide returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity in the first quarter of 2015, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI). This represents a year-over-year net gain of seven markets.
Read MoreHousing Markets Still Growing
Markets in 59 out of the approximately 350 metro areas nationwide returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity. Find out if your market is among them. Read more.
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