The juice that will fuel the economic recovery is housing, or more specifically, new home sales, Freddie Mac stated in its economic and housing market outlook report for May.
Read More »Housing Starts Drop Despite Improved Builder Confidence
In sharp contrast to reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April.
Read More »Commentary: Seven Little Words
When the Federal Open Market Committee completed its two-day meeting at the beginning of May, it issued the usual six-paragraph post-meeting statement.
Read More »Report: Homebuilding Employment Unlikely to Return to Boom Levels
In the latest in its Transition to "Normal" series, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research group examines the residential construction sector.
Read More »Residential Construction Spending Ticks Up in March
The Census Bureau released Wednesday a report showing a decline in construction spending throughout March. According to Census data, construction spending in March was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $856.7 billion, a 1.7 percent drop from February's revised estimate of $871.8 billion. While total spending fell, spending for housing construction inched up. According to the report, residential construction spending was at annual rate of $301.6 billion.
Read More »NAHB Examines Strength of Housing Starts
Housing starts are making a comeback with double-digit increases expected this year, but some states still face a long road to recovery, according to the NAHB.
Read More »Will Setbacks Derail the Homebuilding Recovery?
Despite some obstacles in the homebuilding recovery and three consecutive monthly declines in the National Association of Home Builder's homebuilder confidence index, Capital Economics remains largely optimistic about the homebuilding rebound. The analytics firm is sticking with its previous prediction that housing starts will reach about 1 million this year and 1.3 million next year as rising home prices help to mitigate increases in construction costs.
Read More »Survey Shows Improvements in Multifamily Market Conditions
Apartment markets improved in April in all categories, according to the National Multi Housing Council's (NMHC) April Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. All four of the survey's indexes--Market Tightness, Sales Volume, Equity Financing, and Debt Financing--came in above 50, which marks the point between improving and deteriorating conditions. April's gains reverse findings made in January, when Market Tightness and Sales Volume dropped below 50 for the first time since 2010.
Read More »Freddie Mac Sees Strength in Construction as Other Sectors Flounder
Construction employment proved to be the silver lining in March's otherwise dismal job report, Freddie Mac says in its economic and housing outlook for April.
Read More »Multifamily Building Leads Housing Starts in March
Housing starts jumped 7.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday. Multifamily starts (which increased 31.1 percent) accounted for all of March's gains, while single-family starts actually declined 4.8 percent. While the trajectory for both starts and permits shows a clear increasing pattern as the recovery marches on, residential construction activity remains far below pre-recession levels.
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