Tag Archives: Housing Supply

While low inventory continues to curb home sales, April may have seen the first signs that the supply situation is turning around, RE/MAX says in its latest National Housing Report. According to RE/MAX, the months' supply of homes for sale at the April's sales pace was 3.6 months--the lowest supply since the National Housing Report began in August 2008. However, the company observed a monthly increase in April in the overall number of homes for sale--the first since June 2010.

On a national level, the relationship between building permits and foreclosure starts resembled that of a seesaw in the first quarter, with an equal but opposite rise and fall, but in some markets, both permits and foreclosures are on the rise, according to a report from RealtyTrac. After analyzing data from HUD, the online foreclosure marketplace found single-family building permits increased 27 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to the highest level in five years, while foreclosure starts fell 27 percent during the same time period to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2006.

""Fiscal policy,"" simply put, is the means by which a government adjusts its levels of spending in order to monitor and influence a nation's economy. At the heart of the spending/growth disparity is a philosophical debate over the role of government: those who believe government should be run like a business and avoid debt and those who see the role of government as spending counter-cyclically, that is increasing spending when the nation's economy is challenged to avoid further struggles. direct a country's economic goals.

In the latest in its Transition to ""Normal"" series, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research group examines the residential construction sector, which lost 41 percent of jobs between 2006 and 2011 due to the housing bust. If housing starts return to normal levels in 2016, residential construction employment is predicted to rise to nearly 2.5 million jobs, an increase of 412,000 over current levels. Despite that gain, homebuilding employment is forecast to remain nearly 1 million less than it was at the peak of the housing boom.

According to NAHB, the number of housing markets showing ""sustained improvement"" fell to 258 from April's 273. The index, put together by NAHB and First American Title, tracks housing permits, employment, and home prices in markets across the country. ""While seasonal trends in home prices resulted in an overall decline in the IMI this month, the index remains at a very strong level and continues to represent markets in every state,"" remarked NAHB chief economist David Crowe.

Imagine if someone removed the speedometer from your car and then put limits on how fast or slow you could drive. That's what 11 House members are doing with legislation which would prohibit the Census Bureau from any data collection except for the decennial headcount of Americans. The impact of the bill HR 1638 would be to eviscerate and effectively eliminate the monthly employment situation report that produces, among other things, the unemployment rate as well as a host of other bits of data about the economy. The sponsors of the bill must believe that if we don't count unemployment it won't exist.

While reluctance from lenders, sellers, and appraisers has become something of a drag on sales and price improvements, David Hicks, co-president of HomeVestors, asserts the market's slow growth has kept the country away from another housing bubble. Also worth noting is the current shortage of inventory, which has boosted price points and helped to drive off the sort of speculative buying behavior that could generate a bubble. Even so, low appraisals, tough financing criteria, and buyer and seller reluctance have provided a balancing weight.

First quarter data from the Texas Association of Realtors showed the Lone Star state's housing market is off to a good start, pointing to a strong selling season for the summer. A report from the association revealed first quarter home sales in Texas totaled 53,937, up 17.5 percent from a year ago.

The number of households owning homes fell 698,000 to 74,511,000 in the first quarter, the first decline in almost two years, according to a Census Bureau report Tuesday. At the same time, the nation's homeownership rate fell to 65 percent (seasonally adjusted), the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1995. The Census data paints a grim picture for the home sales market, which has already been struggling against mortgage restrictions and weak inventory.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March, the highest level in almost three years, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Economists had expected a 0.7 percent increase to 105.5 from February's originally reported 104.8. The February index reading was revised to 104.1. With the month-over-month improvement, the PHSI is 7.0 percent above March 2012, slightly below the 7.7 percent year-over-year gain in February. The index registered double-digit percent gains from April through October last year so the dip--on the eve of the homebuying season--is less than encouraging.