Interest 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…

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Housing Demand Has Jumped

The popular business press, including the cable news channels, are awash in reports that housing demand has already jumped on just the notion of rate cuts later this year, and the jump is expected to become a surge as I have been predicting. Remember, I have said for the last several months that when the Fed signaled inflation was headed…

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New Home Sales Bounce Back in December on Lower Mortgage Rates

Falling interest rates in the closing weeks of 2023 helped to bring buyers off the sidelines and provide a boost for new home sales. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in December increased 8.0% to a 664,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from an upwardly revised reading in November, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and…

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2024 Outlook/Forecast

Aggregates Industry Looks To Make Gains As Projects Move Forward. By Mark S. Kuhar and Josephine Patterson Since President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law Nov. 15, 2021, states have committed federal funds to support more than 56,000 eligible transportation improvements in all 50 states during the last two years, spanning nearly every U.S.…

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Single-Family Starts Flat in October

Single-family construction held steady in October as high mortgage rates depressed demand but more buyers turned to new homes because of a lack of existing inventory. Overall housing starts increased 1.9% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census…

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Housing Starts Lower on Rising Mortgage Rates

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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Large Metro Markets Show Biggest Slowdown in Single-Family Construction

Rising mortgage rates and elevated construction costs have taken a toll on the pace of single-family construction in markets across the nation, with the slowdown most pronounced in large metro areas. Multifamily market growth also fell in most areas of the country, according to the latest findings from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Home Building Geography Index (HBGI)…

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New Home Sales Cool in June on Higher Mortgage Rates

Sales of newly built, single-family homes in June fell 2.5% to 697,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in May, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. However, new home sales are up 23.8% from a year ago.It takes 400 tons of aggregates to construct…

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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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March New Home Sales Jump

Lower mortgage rates and limited existing inventory helped to push new home sales up in March, even as builders continue to grapple with increased construction costs and material supply disruptions. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in March increased 9.6% to a 683,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in February, according to newly released data by…

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