Satyam Panday, chief U.S. and Canada Economist, S&P Global Ratings, said in his Q4 2024 U.S. Economic Outlook, that The Fed looks set to embark on a steady series of interest-rate cuts. The report details economic growth projections, labor market trends, inflation and monetary policy, potential changes to our baseline forecasts, recession probability, leading indicators and a few additional topical…
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A Mid-Year Look at the Housing Market
Interest rates have been elevated for a long time now, a stretch spanning the longest period for high interest rates that we can remember. Starting in March 2022, rates have ratcheted up to their current levels and have been there for 2½ years now. But as I have been predicting for some time, rates will come down, although the timing…
Read MoreNew Home Sales Soft in June as Mortgage Rates Remain Near 7%
Elevated mortgage rates continue to keep buyers on hold, as new home sales remained relatively flat in June. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in June fell 0.6% to a 617,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a slight upwardly revised reading in May, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S.…
Read MoreHousing Starts Retreat in May
Single-family and multifamily housing starts fell in May as high interest rates for construction and development loans and mortgage rates held back both housing supply and demand. Overall housing starts fell 5.5% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.28 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S.…
Read MoreHigher Interest Rates Keep Single-Family Housing Starts Flat in April
Single-family starts remained flat in April as interest rates moved above 7% last month and builders were dealing with tighter lending conditions. Overall housing starts increased 5.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The April reading…
Read MoreInterest Rates, Demand Push Single-Family Starts Higher
Pent-up demand, moderating interest rates and a lack of existing inventory helped push single-family starts in February to their highest level since April 2022. Overall housing starts increased 10.7% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The…
Read MoreThe Tide Has Turned
The Fed has said it: interest rates are coming down. Fed Chairman Jay Powell surprised markets in early December when he announced, somewhat unexpectedly, that the Fed was not planning to raise rates any further, and, in fact, was projecting three rate cuts in 2024 now that inflation has cooled. Surprisingly, the Fed’s quarterly economic projections released in December, the…
Read MoreDodge Momentum Index Declines in July
The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, declined 0.9% in July to 193.4 (2000=100) from the revised June reading of 195.1. Over the month, the commercial component of the DMI remained relatively flat, ticking down 0.2%, while the institutional component fell 1.9%. The DMI is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in…
Read MoreEquipment Finance Outlook
By Mark S. Kuhar In what is likely to be a more challenging year for both the economy and the equipment finance industry, the 2023 forecast for equipment and software investment growth is 4.2%, according to the 2023 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook. The report released by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation also forecasts sluggish U.S. GDP…
Read MoreHousing Permits Decline in March
The single-family housing market continued to show signs of softening in March as permits and starts declined due to rising mortgage interest rates and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks that continue to delay construction projects and raise home building costs. Due to strong multifamily production, overall housing starts increased 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.79 million units, according…
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