Single-family housing production should register a slight uptick in 2025 as builders contend with conflicting market conditions – policy moves expected to aid the business climate in the areas of regulatory reform and extension of the 2017 tax cuts coupled with tariff and immigration actions that could have an adverse impact on housing costs and supply. It takes 400 tons…
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The Fed Goes Big
That was the subject line on an end-of-day email from one of the major business media enterprises on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-September. It was the day the Fed held its regular meeting, and ended speculation as to whether the all-but-assured rate cut would be 25 basis points, or a more aggressive 50 points. And 50 it was, but it…
Read MoreA 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 MoreSurprise Lift for New Home Sales in July
Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in July, following significant revisions in the previous months’ data. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in July rose 10.6% to a 739,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from significant upward revisions in June, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace…
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 MoreNew Home Sales Fall in May
Sales of newly built, single-family homes in May fell 11.3% to a 619,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a sharp upwardly revised reading in April, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in May is down 16.5% from a year earlier and…
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 MoreWait! Stop the Presses!
I have to start by explaining this headline for the younger readers who don’t remember the culture of the newspaper industry, which is now long gone. You see, newspapers in larger markets once printed multiple editions throughout the day, so that news could be as recent as three or four hours old. “Wait! Stop the Presses!” was a popular expression…
Read MoreThe Pulse
By Allen-Villere Partners THE PULSE: CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS MARKET ANALYSIS PIERRE-VILLERE’S MARKET ASSESSMENTIn the latest update on the construction materials industry, the AVP Pulse Index experienced a modest decline of 0.7% for the month, although it experienced a strong year-ever-year growth of 5.5%. Over the past 36 months, the index increased impressively by 13.7%, indicating sustained strength within the sector. Notably, industry stocks continue to…
Read MoreNew Home Sales Up at the Start of 2024
Stable mortgage rates at the beginning of 2024 helped new home sales to increase in January. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in January increased 1.5% to a 661,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in December, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The…
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