Many real estate economists have called on new home builders to ramp up production to help relieve the shortage of inventory of homes for sale throughout the United States. The added inventory would no doubt aid buyers in their search to secure their dream home, while also helping to ease price increases throughout the country. Unfortunately for builders, there are many forces that are making it difficult for them to do just that! Last week at the National Association of Real Estate Editors 51st Annual Conference, … [Read more...]
#1 Answer to the Housing Shortage: New Construction
The biggest challenge to today’s housing market is the shortage of housing inventory for sale. A normal market would see a six-month supply of homes for sale. Currently, that number is below four months. This is the major reason home prices have continued to appreciate at higher levels than historic averages.The good news is that builders are now starting to build more homes in lower price ranges.Builder Confidence is UpThe Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reveals … [Read more...]
Builder Confidence Hits 11-Year High
In many areas of the country, there are not enough homes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers looking to purchase their dream homes. Experts have long proposed that a ramp-up in new, single-family home construction would be one of the many ways to overcome this inventory shortage.According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo, housing market confidence amongst builders reached an 11-year high last month.What Does High Confidence Mean for the Housing … [Read more...]
New Home Sales Race to Keep Up with Demand [INFOGRAPHIC]
Some Highlights:Many buyers who are searching for their dream homes are turning to new home construction after 10% of all new home buyers sighted a lack of inventory of existing homes as their reason for purchase.The median home price decreased slightly from September’s high of $314,100 to $304,500 in October.The West saw the largest month over month jump in sales at 28.7%. … [Read more...]
Why We Need More Newly Constructed Homes
The number of new home sales is far off historic norms. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just reported that the percentage of all house sales that were newly constructed homes has fallen to the lowest numbers in forty years. Here is a graph showing the percentages:This should come as no surprise as the number of new housing starts has fallen dramatically over the last several years:Bottom LineWe need more new construction for two reasons:It will relieve some of the pent-up buying demand that is causing … [Read more...]
5 Stats that Prove the Real Estate Market is Getting Stronger
Whenever there is talk about an improving housing market, some begin to show concern that we may be headed toward another housing bubble that will be followed by a crash similar to the one we saw last decade.Here are five data points that show the housing market will continue to recover, and that a new housing crisis is not about to take shape.1) Mortgage availability is increasing, but is nowhere near the levels we saw in 2004-2006.A buyer’s chances of being approved for a mortgage have increased over the … [Read more...]
New Construction Numbers: Now Versus 2005
There is some thinking that the pace of the housing recovery is unsustainable and that we may be heading for another housing bubble. However, Jonathan Smoke, the Chief Economist of realtor.com explains the basic difference between 2005 and today:“The havoc during the last cycle was the result of building too many homes and of speculation fueled by loose credit. That’s the exact opposite of what we have today.”If we look at the number of new single family housing starts over the last 30 years, we … [Read more...]
Housing Market Slowing Down? Don’t Tell Builders!
Many experts have been calling upon home builders to ramp up construction to help with the lack of existing inventory for sale. For the past two months, new home sales have surged, with July’s total coming in at the highest since October 2007.The latest estimates from the US Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development show that sales in July were 31.3% higher than this time last year, and 12.4% higher than last month, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 4
- 5
- 6
