Home Price Appreciation Continues in June

By Housing
In June, national home prices continued to increase. Limited inventory and solid but weakened demand put upward pressure on home prices, despite rising mortgage rates. Locally, all 20 metro areas, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, had positive home price appreciation in June. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at… Read More ›

Job Openings Data Reveal Labor Market Cooling

By Housing
The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy continued to moved lower in July, falling to 8.8 million. While certain inflation readings have raised the likelihood of a September Federal Reserve interest rate increase, the JOLTS survey is another data point indicating an ongoing but gradual cooling of macro conditions due to elevated interest rates. The count of… Read More ›

Wood-Framed Home Share Increased for Three Straight Years

By Housing
Wood framing remains the most dominant construction method for single-family homes in the U.S., according to NAHB analysis of 2022 Census Bureau data. For 2022 completions, 94% of new homes were wood-framed, another 6% were concrete-framed homes, and less than half a percent was steel-framed. On a count basis, there were 956,000 wood-framed homes completed in 2022. This was a… Read More ›

AD&C Loans: Rising Rate & Tightening Trends Continue

By Housing
Interest rates on loans for Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) continued to climb in the second quarter of 2023, according to NAHB’s quarterly Survey on AD&C Financing.  Quarter-over-quarter, the contract interest rate increased on all four categories of loans tracked in the AD&C Survey: from 8.50% to 8.62% on loans for land acquisition, from 8.19% to 8.70% on loans for… Read More ›

Home Improvement Loan Applications in 2021: A State- and County-Level Analysis

By Housing
The residential remodeling market has grown rapidly in the past few years, mainly fueled by changes in housing and lifestyle decisions during the pandemic period. According to National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), expenditures for residential home improvements soared 13% to $328 billion in 2021, from $289 billion in 2020. This marks the largest gain since 1993 (16% increase). Solid… Read More ›

Multifamily Absorption Rates Move Higher

By Housing
Data from the Census Bureau’s latest Survey of Market Absorptions of New Multifamily Units (SOMA) indicates that demand for newly completed multifamily units remains solid as mortgage rates continue to climb. Only an estimated 39% of the 82,310 unfurnished apartment units completed in the first quarter of 2023 are available for rent three months past construction completion. For condominiums, an… Read More ›