The budget deficit in 2024 is expected to total $1.9 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent June estimates. This marks a $408 billion increase from the $1.5 trillion estimate published in February. This increase is the result of increased spending of $363 billion and decreased revenues of $45 billion for the year….
Total (new and existing) home inventory is an important measure for gauging and forecasting home prices and home construction impacts. The intuition is clear: more inventory yields weaker or declining home price growth and home building activity. Lean inventory levels lead to price growth and gains for home building. The metric “months’ supply” is a…
New single-family starts have trended higher since 2012, reaching a post-pandemic peak of 1,133,145 units in 2021. During 2022 and 2023, elevated housing prices and persistently high mortgage rates have dampened housing market activity. According to NAHB analysis of the 2023 Survey of Construction (SOC), new single-family starts decreased in 2023 for the second consecutive…
The Census Bureau’s quarterly summary of State & Local Tax Revenue shows a 1.7% increase in property taxes paid, rising from a revised estimate of $754.1 to $766.7 billion in the seasonally adjusted four quarters ending in the first quarter of 2024. The rate of quarterly increases ticked up slightly, up from 1.5% in the…
Existing home sales fell for the third straight month in May due to lingering high mortgage rates and record-high prices, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Low resale inventory and strong demand continued to drive up existing home prices, marking the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year median sales price gains. However, rising inventory…
Single-family and multifamily housing starts fell in May as high interest rates for construction and development loans and elevated 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…
