Eye on the EconomyHome Construction Rebounds in July

August 20, 2014

eyeonhousing.org

Starts Bounce Back

• Rebounded with a 15.7% increase

• Three our of four regions increased

• Multifamily starts also rose

•Real rents up 1.4% over last 12 months

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Builders More Confident

• Housing Market Index rose two points to 55

• Current sales Index rose to 58

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The Average Size of Single-Family Homes is Cooling

• Lack of first-time home buyers

• means new homes are purchased by those who can afford a larger house

• Typical new home size rose

• Second quarter data show slowing of this trend

• Increases in the number of first-time home buyers will slow growth of average home size

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Builders Also Confident in the 55+ Home Market

• Index at 56 for Q2 2014

• 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year gains

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More Markets are Improving

• Leading Markets Index increased 1 point in August

• Over one-third of metro areas improved since June

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Consumer Debt on the Rise

• Debt positions continue to improve

• Mortgage delinquencies decreased 6.04%

• Consumer debt continues to increase, but debt service expenses remains low

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Housing Affordability Declines

• Housing Opportunity Index drops to 62.6

• That means 62% of new and existing homes are affordable to the median income of Americans

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Building Materials Prices

• Softwood lumber declined; but still above 2013 prices

• OSB prices dipped

• Gypsum prices below 2014 high; above 2006 housing boom levels

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Shortages of Building Materials Eases

• NAHB survey shows shortages of building materials have eased

• 15% of builders reported some or serious shortages of trusses or clay bricks

• 14% report shortages of windows, doors, gypsum wall board and cabinets

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Unfilled Construction Jobs

• Increased in June

•Fourth highest tally since end of the recession

•Industry has added more than 301,000 jobs to the economy since the peak of the recession

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Other Analysis

Immigration Homeownership

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Trends in Work Commutes

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Recent Global Home Price Data

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