During the week of New Year’s, weekly initial jobless claims totaled 787,000, little changed from the previous week. Continuing claims, which lag initial jobless claims by one week, decreased by 126,000. Weekly initial jobless claims peaked at nearly 7 million in the spring of 2020 and have remained at around 0.8 million since the fall of 2020 and into 2021,… Read More ›
After reaching a record high in August, pending home sales slid for the third consecutive month, as fast-rising home prices and low inventory started to impede the housing market. Higher interest rates this week will present an additional challenge in future data. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a forward-looking indicator… Read More ›
After a strong rebound in September, consumer confidence fell for the second consecutive month in December, as job growth continued to slow and more states re-imposed restrictions on business due to resurgence of COVID-19. The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, dropped 4.3 points from 92.9 to 88.6 in December, the lowest level since August 2020. The Present… Read More ›
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose 2.7% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $658.1 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 16.1% 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 to a $341.5 billion annual pace in November, up by 5.1%. This is in line with the strong readings of single-family housing starts and solid builder confidence. Remodeling spending inched up by 0.2% in November. Meanwhile, multifamily construction spending stayed flat after reaching a record high in October, and was 15.8% higher since a year ago.
The NAHB construction spending index, which is shown in the graph below (the base is January 2000), illustrates the solid growth in single-family construction and home improvement from the second half of 2019 to February 2020, before the COVID-19 hit the U.S. economy, and the quick rebounds since July 2020. New multifamily construction spending has picked up the pace after a slowdown from the second half of 2019.
Private nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $453.8 billion. And it was 9.5% lower than a year ago. The largest contribution to this month-over-month nonresidential spending decrease was made by the class of manufacturing ($12.3 billion), followed by power ($10.1 billion), and lodging ($8.3 billion).
In October, national home price appreciation reached all-time high. Home prices in all 19 major markets increased. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 22.3% in October, faster than an 18.6% increase in September. It marks the highest annual growth rate in the… Read More ›
