Weekly initial jobless claims declined by 33,000 in the week ending January 30. Continuing claims, which lag initial jobless claims by one week, decreased by 193,000 in the week ending January 23. This week’s jobless claims indicate that the labor market is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic gradually. More hiring is expected when Coronavirus vaccines become more widely distributed. According… Read More ›

Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market remained high in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the 55+ single-family housing market index (55+HMI) inching down one point to 82 (from an all-time high of 83 in the third quarter) (Figure 1). The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) produces two 55+ HMIs measuring distinct segments of the 55+ housing… Read More ›

NAHB analysis of the most recent Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing published by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that conventional loans financed the most new home sales in a fourth quarter since 2006 (see red bars in the chart below). However, the share of sales backed by conventional loans in the fourth quarter was down 2.2 percentage points (quarter-over-quarter)… Read More ›

The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $19,568 billion in December. It was up 0.6%, after a 1.3% decline in November and a 0.7% dip in October. This increase in personal income largely came from the gains for government social benefits and… Read More ›

NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 3.1% in December 2020 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $691.0 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 20.7% higher than a year ago. The monthly gains are largely attributed to the strong growth of spending on single-family and improvements. Single-family construction spending rose… Read More ›

Buyers’ perceptions about the availability of homes in the market are showing significant improvement, according to the latest Housing Trends Report. In the final quarter of 2020, 37% of prospective buyers expect their search for a home to get easier in the months ahead, while 54% expect it will be harder or stay the same. A year earlier, far fewer… Read More ›