Prospective buyers in the third quarter of 2022 are more likely to have higher levels of income and education than earlier in the year.  This helps explain why affordability expectations have improved.  In the third quarter of 2022, 69% of buyers could only afford a minority of homes for sale in their markets, a much lower share than in the… Read More ›

NAHB analysis of the most recent Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing published by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that new home sales financed through FHA numbered 11,000 and accounted for 7.5% of the total in Q3 2022–the smallest share since the fourth quarter of 2007.  The share has dropped by nearly two-thirds since the spring of 2020. In contrast, the share… Read More ›

The most recent data release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed that personal income increased 0.4% in September, the eighth consecutive monthly increase of this year. Gains in personal income are largely driven by increases in compensation of employees and personal income on assets. Real disposable income, income remaining after adjusted for taxes and inflation, stayed flat in… Read More ›

For the second straight quarter, more prospective buyers expect housing availability to improve. In the third quarter of 2022, 37% of buyers expect the home search to get easier in the months ahead, up from 17% and 22% in the first and second quarters of the year, respectively. More for-sale inventory and less competition from buyers priced-out by higher mortgage… Read More ›

Housing’s share of the economy edged lower at the end of the third quarter of 2022. This is the first quarter where GDP increased for 2022, with overall GDP increasing at a 2.6% annual rate, following a 0.6% decrease in the second quarter and 1.6% decrease in the first quarter. However, due to higher interest rates, housing’s share of GDP… Read More ›

Real GDP grew in the third quarter, after shrinking for the first two straight quarters of 2022. This quarter’s growth was mostly fueled by a decline in the trade deficit. More important, the data from the GDP report suggests that inflation is cooling. The GDP price index, rose 4.1% for the third quarter, down from a 9.0% increase in the… Read More ›

Much like other home buyers, those buying their first homes rate double sinks and walk-in pantries as the most popular of 30 kitchen features listed in the recent NAHB study,  What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition.  At the top of the chart, 80 percent of first-time buyers rated a double sink and a walk-in pantry essential or desirable.  More than 70 percent also rated three other kitchen features essential or desirable: drinking water filtration (78 percent), table space for…

Rising mortgage rates approaching 7% along with declining builder sentiment stemming from stubbornly high construction costs and weakening consumer demand pushed new-home sales down at a double-digit rate in September. Following a brief uptick in August, sales of newly built, single-family homes in September fell 10.9% to a 603,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the… Read More ›

Located on a major thoroughfare, this project merges a need for housing with the city’s desire to maintain its tax revenue from a surface-parked auto dealership into a vibrant mixed-use development. The auto dealership will be 23,000 sf on the ground floor activating the street scene with an additional 7,000 sf of office mezzanine space, a three-level parking structure integrated within the mixed-use building (one subsurface level and two above ground) for visitors, storage for vehicles for sale, and service…

After bottoming out at 19% in the first quarter of 2022, the popularity of new homes continues to rebound, as the share of buyers looking for new construction rose to 21% and 27% in the second and third quarters of the year, respectively.  A possible factor behind this trend is that the inventory of new homes for-sale is 25% higher… Read More ›