Single-Family Starts Hit 7-Year High
November data shows housing starts jumping 10.5 percent, with single-family production climbing 7.6 percent and multifamily continuing its strong pace, rising 16.4 percent. Builder confidence in the new, single-family home market remained relatively flat in December, dropping one point to 61 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).
The starts data puts single-family homes on pace for 768,000 units and multi-family at 405,000 units, according the data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said the jump shows "gradual headway back to a normal housing market." Find the organization's news release on starts here and on confidence here.
Crowe says the improvement suggests that housing starts will continue growing at a modest pace. NAHB Chairman Tom Woods, a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo, said that as builders anticipate demand for housing they "should continue to add inventory."
“Overall, builders are optimistic about the housing market, although they are reporting concerns with the high price of lots and labor," Woods said, repeating concerns stated for the past several months.
The Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations and asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers. All three HMI components posted modest losses in December. The index measuring sales expectations in the next six months fell two points to 67, the component gauging current sales conditions decreased one point to 66, and the index charting buyer traffic dropped two points to 46.
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