Rising mortgage rates approaching 7% along with declining builder sentiment stemming from stubbornly high construction costs and weakening consumer demand pushed new-home sales down at a double-digit rate in September. Following a brief uptick in August, sales of newly built, single-family homes in September fell 10.9% to a 603,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the…
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New Home Sales Up but Rising Rates Portend Weakening Market
A brief decline in mortgage rates helped to boost new home sales in August but sales are expected to move on a downward trend in the months ahead as rates have since moved higher and builder sentiment continues to fall due to declining housing affordability and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in August increased 28.8%…
Read MoreHousing Starts Weaken in July
A sharp decline in single-family home construction is another indicator that the housing slowdown is showing no signs of abating, as rising construction costs, elevated mortgage rates and supply chain disruptions continue to act as a drag on the market. Overall housing starts fell 9.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million units in July, according to a…
Read MoreSingle-Family Starts Fall to Two-Year Low
Increased interest rates, building material supply chain bottlenecks and elevated construction costs continue to put a damper on the single-family housing market. For the first time since June 2020, both single-family starts and permits fell below a 1 million annual pace.
Read MoreNew Home Sales Tumble
New home sales in June fell to the lowest level since April 2020, reflecting declining builder sentiment as construction bottlenecks continue to slow new home building and raise housing costs.
Read MoreRising Interest Rates, Higher Construction Costs Slow Housing Production
Rising interest rates and ongoing building material supply chain disruptions that raise construction costs continue to act as significant headwinds on the housing market.
Read MoreSingle-Family Housing Starts Decline, Permits Increase
The single-family housing market continued to show signs of slowing in April as rising mortgage rates and ongoing supply chain disruptions continue to raise housing costs and take a toll on the housing market. Due to a surge in multifamily production, overall housing starts held fairly steady, falling just 0.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.72 million units,…
Read MoreThe Housing Affordability Challenge
Last month, I wrote about a recent report issued by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index, also known as the “HOI,” which showed that just 54.2% of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $79,900. This is down from…
Read MoreMultifamily Production at a Two-Year High, Single-Family Starts Up
Despite production bottlenecks and rising construction costs, total housing starts led by a strong multifamily reading posted a solid gain in February as demand stays strong and existing inventory remains at low levels.
Read MoreJanuary New Home Sales Lower But Solid
New home sales declined in January on rising interest rates but still posted a steady reading as demand remains strong. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in January fell 4.5% to an 801,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a sharp upwardly 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.
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