Filtered by Subscriptions: US Housing Use setting US Housing
Trough in existing home sales behind us: Existing home sales recovered somewhat in November from the 13-year low reached in October, as falling mortgage rates brought more buyers and sellers into the market. That chimes with the pickup in mortgage …
20th December 2023
Single-family starts jump to 19-month high The extreme lack of existing inventory on the market continued to support newbuild demand and construction activity in November, as single-family starts jumped to an 19-month high. The rise is at odds with the …
19th December 2023
Recent falls in Treasury yields have bought mortgage rates back down from a peak of 8% in October to 7% earlier than we had anticipated, setting the scene for a recovery in housing market activity in 2024. That said, as we don’t think borrowing costs will …
14th December 2023
Falling rates allow mortgage demand to recover Falling mortgage rates sparked a modest uptick in mortgage applications for home purchase in November. Recent falls in Treasury yields mean further falls in mortgage rates are imminent, so the trough in …
6th December 2023
First-time buyer (FTB) loan originations have been weak for over a year now. That’s mainly down to higher mortgage rates which have made buying too expensive for many younger adults. And as we think mortgage rates are unlikely to drop much below 6.0% …
5th December 2023
In this Global Economics Update , we describe eight of the biggest risks to our economic forecasts for 2024. The unusual nature of this cycle and uncertainties surrounding the transmission of monetary policy mean that the biggest risks relate to central …
30th November 2023
The usually strong relationship between NAHB homebuilder confidence and housing starts has broken down recently. That can be explained by the composition of the NAHB’s builder members, which are largely smaller private homebuilders. Unlike their larger …
29th November 2023
House prices continue to defy gravity Another large monthly gain in house prices in September suggests that the extremely limited supply of existing homes for sale continued to outstrip the drag on demand from high mortgage rates. This was a stronger …
28th November 2023
Temporary pause in strength of new home sales New home sales reversed most of their rise in the previous month as mortgage rates spiked to 8%. However, we don’t think this marks an end to the strength in new homes sales. That’s because the supply of …
27th November 2023
Overview – Housing market activity is likely to recover from here, driven by falling mortgage rates. That said, they are set to remain high relative to recent history. Our view is that mortgage rates won’t drop below 6.0% before the end of the forecast, …
21st November 2023
Spike in rates takes sales to fresh 13-year low Existing home sales fell sharply to a fresh 13-year low in October as the 8% peak in mortgage rates in the same month caused buyers and sellers to withdraw from the market. Mortgage applications for home …
Starts continue to bounce back With homebuilders encouraged by the recent surge in buyers entering the new homes market due to a lack of existing inventory, housing starts and permits edged slightly higher in October. Total housing starts rose 1.9% m/m …
17th November 2023
During the past decade, the global economy has transitioned out of an era in which globalisation was the key driver of economic and financial relationships into one shaped by geopolitics. Previously, most governments had believed that closer economic …
16th November 2023
Mortgage applications bottom out After their weakest month in 28 years, there were signs that mortgage applications for home purchase bottomed out at the end of October. Mortgage applications for home purchase dropped 9.1% m/m across October as a whole, …
8th November 2023
The rise in the US homeownership rate has stalled, driven by a drop in the proportion of under-35s that own their home. That’s down to higher mortgage rates reducing the number of first-time buyers (FTBs) that can afford to buy. Our forecast is for …
2nd November 2023
Surge in house prices continues Another large gain in house prices in August suggests that the extremely limited supply of existing homes for sale continued to outweigh high mortgage rates. We think monthly gains in house prices will soften over the …
31st October 2023
Our new higher forecasts for US Treasury yields mean that mortgage rates won’t fall as quickly as we previously predicted. While we still expect mortgage rates to decline they are unlikely to fall below 6.0% before end-2025, muting any recovery in house …
26th October 2023
New home sales resume upward trend Extraordinarily limited supply in the existing homes market continued to drive buyers to new homes in September. The 12.4% m/m rise in new home sales in September took them to 759,000 annualised (consensus 680,000), …
25th October 2023
The diffusion of AI technologies should be a fillip for the global economy over the coming years. That will bring benefits for real estate performance in developed economies, particularly in those office markets with concentrations of knowledge …
20th October 2023
Market grinds to a halt Existing home sales fell to their lowest level since October 2010 in September as the increase in mortgage rates to a fresh 23-year high caused buyers and sellers to withdraw from the market. A decline in mortgage applications for …
19th October 2023
We expect demand to be weakest in the six major markets, but new supply is also set to be low in those markets. Elsewhere, we think southern metros will continue to see stronger absorption, though Austin and Miami have large completions pipelines over the …
18th October 2023
Starts rebound, but headwinds remain Single-family starts edged higher in September to 963,000 annualised from 933,000 in August and building permits also rose to a 15-month high. However, we don’t think this means single-family construction activity has …
The surge in mortgage rates to a 23-year high has caused both buyers and sellers to withdraw from the market, and total home sales to drop to their lowest level since 2011. While we’ve revised down our near-term sales volumes forecasts, our view that the …
Surging Treasury yields have pushed mortgage rates above 7.5%, higher than we had anticipated. If these borrowing rates persist, lending and sales volumes could fall even further in the near term creating a risk that house prices fall rather than stagnate …
10th October 2023
The sell-off in bond markets has taken a breather today, helped in part by softer data on the US labour market. However, the scale of the moves over the past week has invoked comparisons to previous financial crises that have been caused by sharp moves in …
4th October 2023
High mortgage rates crush home purchase demand Rising mortgage rates caused mortgage applications for home purchase to slip to a fresh 28-year low in September. With mortgage rates edging above 7.5% in the last week of the month as Treasury yields surged …
Softening demand proves a tipping point for new home sales The 8.7% m/m drop in New Home Sales in August was the largest monthly decline since September 2022 and suggests that the renewed rise in mortgage rates has caused home purchase demand to decline …
26th September 2023
Another dip in house prices this year unlikely after sixth consecutive rise The sixth consecutive rise in house prices in July showed that very tight supply is causing home prices to continue to rise despite sales volumes remaining weak, and suggests a …
Sales fall back to January lows The 0.7% m/m fall back in existing home sales in August reflects falling mortgage borrowing and took sales back close to the low levels recorded in January. Our view that mortgage rates will remain above 6% for the rest of …
21st September 2023
Sharp drop in housing starts suggest turning point Housing starts fell sharply across both the single-family and multifamily sectors in August, suggesting that construction has now reached a turning point. We expect this downward trend to continue for the …
19th September 2023
The recent outperformance of single-family REITs versus apartment REITs appears to be down to differences in the capital value outlook for the sectors, rather than any major difference in rental growth prospects. With our forecasts for single-family and …
15th September 2023
New home sales have brushed off a collapse in overall housing demand, rising 23% in the first half of 2023. More competitive pricing will be providing some support to sales, but the primary factor is the chronic shortage of existing homes for sale, …
12th September 2023
With affordability stretched and the economy slowing, housing market activity is expected to remain weak over the coming quarters. While we expect house prices to lose some of their recent momentum, the worst of the correction appears to have passed and …
7th September 2023
Mortgage rates continue to weigh on demand Mortgage applications for home purchase continued to slip in August, recording the largest monthly fall since February. This latest drop has kept mortgage applications at their lowest level since 1995. While we …
6th September 2023
June saw house prices rise again for the fifth month in a row The limited supply of existing homes for sale helped house prices rise for the fifth consecutive month in June, according to Case-Shiller. Given the sizeable increase in prices in Q2 and that …
29th August 2023
Limited existing home supply supports new sales New home sales rose by 4.4% m/m in July, reaching 714,000 annualised. Despite a slight fall in June, new home sales have seen sustained strength over the last year, with July’s increase leaving them over 30% …
23rd August 2023
We continue to expect historic highs for apartment completions in 2023-24 even though there are signs some will be deferred. This also means that, although new permits have dropped back amid softer market conditions and a tougher outlook for investors, we …
18th August 2023
Single-family starts rebound, but confidence slips Single-family starts rose again in July, in line with a 13-month high in homebuilder confidence in the month. However, confidence slipped again in August. Furthermore, with the Fed unlikely to start …
16th August 2023
Overview – With affordability stretched and the economy slowing, housing market activity is expected to remain weak over the coming quarters. While we expect house prices to lose some of their recent momentum, the worst of the correction appears to have …
11th August 2023
Applications dipped back down toward 30-year lows June’s rebound in mortgage applications for home purchase was short-lived as total applications fell by 1.7% in July. This pushed applications back down toward 30-year lows and was probably prompted by …
2nd August 2023
Climate change is expected to intensify the scale and frequency of flooding over the coming years. Housing markets in the US have yet to fully price in these risks, leaving many properties significantly overvalued. But as these risks begin to manifest, …
31st July 2023
Surge in new home sales begins to ease New home sales fell by 2.5% m/m in June to 697,000 annualised, although this still left them almost 25% above their June 2022 level. (See Chart 1.) Having risen since March, this levelling off in sales is in line …
26th July 2023
House prices rose again in May House prices rose for the fourth consecutive month in May according to Case-Shiller. The resurgence in prices has coincided with an uptick in home sales from February to May, in turn driven by a moderation in mortgage rates. …
25th July 2023
Sales fall back toward January lows Existing home sales edged lower, dropping by 3.3% m/m to 4,160,000 annualised in June. That decline takes sales back towards the low of 4.0m recorded in January. And despite a marginal pickup in mortgage applications …
20th July 2023
Single-family starts fell from previous month’s highs, but remain strong Single-family starts fell back from their 11-month high in June, but remained substantially above the average seen in 2023 thus far as homebuilders remained optimistic. However with …
19th July 2023
Stretched affordability and a weakening economy will weigh on housing market activity this year, causing home sales to remain low. While house prices have recovered in recent months, we expect declines to resume later this year. Even so, affordability …
17th July 2023
Surging mortgage rates are undoubtedly dissuading households from moving due to the cost of giving up low fixed rate mortgages, weighing on home sales and inventory. But a similar decrease in sales in the UK, which does not have long-term fixed rate …
13th July 2023
The latest economic and property market data support the view we’ve held since last year that there would be a growing differentiation between southern and western markets. We expect that to persist for the next few years thanks to the relatively high …
11th July 2023
Demand rebounds marginally from historic lows A slight decline in mortgage rates allowed mortgage applications for home purchase to recover from the previous month’s lows in June. That said, applications remain below the average seen so far this year, …
6th July 2023
We recently held a Drop-in titled “Industry’s decarbonisation challenge – From aviation to property”, which you can view on-demand here . This Update addresses some of the questions we received during the event, including those that we did not have time …
3rd July 2023
