Persistently high mortgage rates above 7% continue to erode builder confidence, as sentiment levels have dropped below the key break-even measure of 50 for the first time in five months. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in September fell five points to 45, according to the National Association of Home Builders…
Read More
Low existing inventory and solid demand more than offset rising mortgage rates and elevated construction costs to boost new home sales last month. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in July increased 4.4% to a 714,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in June, according to newly released data by the U.S.…
Read More
A lack of existing inventory and solid demand helped offset rising mortgage rates and push single-family production higher in July, even as builders continue to grapple with elevated construction and financing costs as well as a lack of skilled labor. Overall housing starts increased 3.9% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45…
Read More
With shelter inflation accounting for a staggering 90% of the overall inflation rate last month, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is calling on policymakers at all levels of government to take actions that will help boost the nation’s housing supply in order to ease a stubbornly high housing inflation rate that is harming…
Read More
The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy moved lower in May, falling to 9.8 million. While ongoing tight labor market conditions have likely confirmed one to two more Fed rate hikes through the start of the Fall, the JOLTS survey is another data point indicating an ongoing but gradual cooling of macro…
Read More