Tag Archives: Census Bureau

While noting improvement in economic activity and labor market conditions, the Federal Open Market Committee voted Wednesday to continue its policy of near-zero interest rates and its $85-billion-per-month bond-buying program. At the same time, the Federal Reserve's own economic projections suggested the economy might not grow this year as fast as it expected just three months ago.

Led by the strongest gain for single-family construction this, year, the pace of housing starts edged up 0.9 percent in August, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. Builders broke ground in August on new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000--up from a revised 883,000 in July--and filed for permits at the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 918,000, down from 954,000 in July. The gain in both single-family permits and starts came amid signs of improving builder confidence.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August's downwardly revised reading, the group reported.

Residential construction spending edged up in July, according to numbers from the Census Bureau. Overall, construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of $900.8 billion in July, 0.6 percent above June's revised estimate of $895.7 billion and 5.2 percent ahead of July 2012's $856.3 billion. Spending on residential construction was at a pace of $340.6 billion, up 0.5 percent from June and 16.8 percent from July 2012.

Responding to higher mortgage rates and higher prices, the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) slipped 1.3 percent in July--the steepest decline this year--to 109.5, the group reported Wednesday. Economists had expected the index for July would drop to 109.8, which would have been a 1.0 percent decline from June's 110.9. Despite the month-over-month decline, July's PHSI is up 6.7 percent over the same month last year.

While the national homeownership rate sat at a disappointing 65 percent as of the end of 2013's second quarter, data collected and published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows local market conditions have created a huge gap between state homeownership figures. In a blog for the association, Ken Fears, NAR's manager of regional economics and housing finance policy, notes that the dispersion ranges equally around the national average, with a gap of 22.4 percentage points between the top and bottom states.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped a stunning 13.4 percent to 394,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to drop to 487,000 from June's originally reported 497,000. June sales were revised to 455,000. The report for July showed a slight shift to higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 11 percent of July sales, up from 9 percent in June. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 62 percent of all July sales, down from 64 percent in June.

While new housing production is expected to see a healthy rebound later this decade, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) group believes "an anticipated slowdown in workforce expansion suggests more modest prospects for new housing demand and construction than witnessed historically." Using the Census Bureau's new projections for population growth over the coming years, Fannie Mae's team says labor force growth could range from as high as 0.9 percent (under optimistic conditions) to as low as 0.4 percent

Led by multifamily activity, new housing permits and starts rose in July with new construction, continuing a shift from single-family homes.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI)--a measure of builder confidence--increased again in August, climbing three points to 59, its highest reading since November 2005, the group reported Thursday. The index has improved 15 points (34 percent) in the last three months. Economists had expected the August index to slip to 56 from July's originally reported 57. The strong August numbers--following the strong June and July reading--gave further evidence to a recovery in the housing sector.