Filtered by Subscriptions: US Housing Use setting US Housing
New home sales soar New home sales increased for the third consecutive month in May, rising by a punchy 12.2% m/m to reach 763,000 annualised, the highest level since February 2022. This leaves them firmly above pre-pandemic levels and around 20% above …
27th June 2023
House prices remain resilient House prices rose in April by the fastest pace in close to a year, reflecting constraints to supply as high mortgage rates have discouraged existing homeowners from moving. Although prices have shown resilience in recent …
Sales remain weak As expected, existing home sales remained relatively unchanged in May, rising by +0.2% m/m to 4,300,000 annualised. Despite this marginal rise, a decline in mortgage applications for home purchase in May suggest we have further falls to …
22nd June 2023
Our new Dashboard allows clients to track the key housing market indicators that we follow in real time. (See here .) This Update outlines what has driven recent developments in these indicators, and our view for the rest of the year. (See also our US …
21st June 2023
Strongest monthly rise in single-family starts for nearly three years Single-family starts saw the largest monthly increase in nearly three years in May, suggesting homebuilders have been responding to the recent rises in new home sales. We still expect a …
20th June 2023
At face value, the recent improvement in market sentiment indicators supports the view that the worst may be past for housing. But looking deeper, we think this largely reflects supply-side improvements and will not be enough to prevent further weakness …
16th June 2023
The seven-month run of house price declines recently ground to a halt, with the Case-Shiller index showing an increase in prices in both February and March. This was partly driven by the temporary boost to demand at the start of the year from declining …
9th June 2023
Demand falls to historic low Mortgage applications for home purchase fell to their lowest level in almost 30 years in May, as a renewed rise in mortgage rates weighed on demand. This points to further near-term weakness for home sales, which we think will …
7th June 2023
Overview – Poor affordability and a weakening economy will weigh on housing market activity this year, causing home sales to remain low over the next few quarters. While house prices increased in February and March, we expect to see further modest …
1st June 2023
House price declines reverse In line with the stronger-than-expected economic data releases at the start of the year, house prices proved resilient in March. But we expect the economy to weaken in the coming months, which will weigh on homebuyer …
30th May 2023
The increase in mortgage rates has been the main determinant of the size of house price falls in developed market economies. Very tight supply in the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, has also supported prices in those markets. Employment, incomes, …
25th May 2023
Buyers pushed to new build sector New home sales recovered to close to pre-pandemic levels in April as a lack of existing homes for sale pushed buyers to the new build sector. But still-stretched affordability and a weakening economy will prevent new home …
23rd May 2023
Sales in a slump Existing home sales fell back towards their recent lows in April, not helped by a very tight inventory. The high cost of a new mortgage is acting to discourage homeowners with a low fixed-rate mortgage from moving, which is disrupting …
18th May 2023
Weakening economy to weigh on starts Homebuilders have turned their attention to finishing off the large number of homes under construction rather than starting new ones, keeping single-family starts close to their recent lows in April. While starts …
17th May 2023
The downturn in the housing market appears to have paused in many countries in recent weeks. However, we doubt that this marks the bottom of the market. With higher interest rates yet to take their full effect, and affordability generally still stretched, …
15th May 2023
The US housing market has been largely unaffected by the banking sector turmoil. Indeed, buyer sentiment rose to an 11-month high in April and activity appears to have bottomed out. Tighter credit conditions could yet weigh on the market, but the latest …
10th May 2023
While home sales have plummeted, house prices have fallen just 3% so far and eked out a small gain in February. We think this reflects the role that tight supply is playing in this downturn, with the number of homes for sale at record lows. Given supply …
5th May 2023
Demand in line with post-GFC lows The slight rise in mortgage applications in April left them little changed from their recent lows, pointing to further near-term weakness in sales. While we expect affordability will gradually improve, growing economic …
3rd May 2023
The housing market will face growing headwinds from tighter credit conditions, slowing income growth and rising unemployment as the economy enters a recession this year. That will offset some of the impact of lower mortgage rates, and means housing market …
27th April 2023
House price growth turns positive New home sales jumped in March and house prices increased 0.2% m/m in February. The continued resilience of the housing market means the risk to our forecast of an 8% drop in house prices are now to the upside. But …
25th April 2023
Sales continue weak start to the year Existing home sales edged lower in March rounding off the weakest start to the year in over a decade. While the lending data point to further declines in April, we expect mortgage rates will fall back to 5.75% …
20th April 2023
Slow recovery in construction activity Single-family starts rose for the second consecutive month in March which adds weight to the view that starts have bottomed out. Building permits and homebuilder confidence also edged higher. But stretched …
18th April 2023
We expect a surge in completions and a slowdown in employment growth to push vacancy substantially higher in all markets over the next few years. That will slam the brakes on rental growth, causing an outright fall in several of the major markets as well …
12th April 2023
Mortgage applications boosted by banking turmoil A sharp decline in 10-year Treasury yields in the middle of March led to a drop in mortgage rates, restoking demand for mortgage applications as a result. We expect this will help offset a tightening in …
5th April 2023
The latest mortgage market data show that the banking crisis has, so far, had a minimal impact on the housing market. While spreads have increased, overall mortgage rates have dropped and applications for home purchase have increased since SVB collapsed. …
30th March 2023
House prices still falling slowly, but more to come House prices continued to nudge lower in January, taking the total fall since their June 2022 peak to 3.0%. But with affordability still stretched, we expect price falls to continue over the coming …
28th March 2023
Homebuilder incentives support new home sales The modest recovery in new home sales continued in February reflecting support from price reductions and incentives offered by homebuilders, as well as a tight existing home market pushing buyers to the new …
23rd March 2023
While real estate is not the main cause of the current financial turbulence, as it was in the late 2000s, it has played an indirect role and may be implicated in any further instability. And property will also be vulnerable to the effects of recent …
21st March 2023
Rebound in sales likely to reverse Existing home sales rebounded in February as buyers took advantage of falling mortgage rates. Weak mortgage applications data point to sales dropping back again in March, but with turmoil in the banking sector contained …
While the Credit Suisse rescue might draw a line under that particular institution’s problems, it is clear that confidence in the financial sector overall is still extremely fragile. So regardless of whether more financial institutions run into trouble, …
20th March 2023
The direct impact on real estate of the collapse of two US regional banks over the weekend is likely to be relatively small. But we expect lending criteria to become more cautious in the short-term, which will weigh on the supply of real estate debt. …
16th March 2023
We have already outlined some different scenarios of how things might evolve from here and it is still possible that the situation calms down quickly. But in this Update , we think through how the more adverse of our scenarios might evolve. There are …
Tighter credit conditions add to headwinds facing construction Single-family housing starts continued their weak start to the year in February with a marginal month-on-month increase. While forward looking indicators appear to have turned a corner, …
Stronger-than-expected economic data in January led to a rebound in market interest rate expectations and a jump in mortgage rates from 6.2% at the start of February to 6.8% in March. That drove mortgage applications for home purchase lower and means …
14th March 2023
In this Update we examine the implications of affordability for house prices at the market level. Despite sunbelt markets seeing the strongest house price growth over the past couple of years, affordability looks most stretched in the West. This has been …
6th March 2023
Rise in mortgage rates cuts home demand Stronger-than-expected economic data led to a resurgence in mortgage rates in February, which put a stop to a tentative recovery in mortgage applications for home purchase. This points to sales staying close to …
1st March 2023
House prices set for further falls in 2023 Despite a sixth consecutive month of falling house prices in December, affordability was still stretched even before the renewed rise in mortgage rates. As a result, it is likely that prices will continue to fall …
28th February 2023
New home sales continue to outperform wider market Price reductions and generous incentives offered by homebuilders helped new home sales continue to outperform the wider market in January. But a renewed rise in mortgage rates will weigh on new home …
24th February 2023
Sales fall, but at much slower pace The marginal decline in existing home sales in January supports our view that housing market activity is reaching a trough. But growing economic headwinds and stretched affordability mean sales will recover only …
21st February 2023
This dashboard contains our forecasts for the US housing market and key macro indicators. If you have subscriber access to the data underlying this redesigned dashboard, you can download it via the menu options in the top right of each chart or table. If …
There are growing signs that stretched affordability is weighing on homeownership, particularly for the under 35s. We expect this to persist in the coming quarters. But there is a large pool of young adults waiting to purchase their first home once …
17th February 2023
Starts fall back in January despite warm weather Single-family housing starts dropped back in January and the permits data add weight to our view that more weakness is to come. We think that starts will edge lower in the coming months, before an increase …
16th February 2023
Overview – Housing market activity is likely to recover only gradually from its current lows, which means we think 2023 will be the weakest year for sales since 2012. Affordability will remain stretched by past standards, especially in the first half of …
10th February 2023
We expect stretched affordability and rising unemployment to lead to an increase in rental arrears and evictions in the coming quarters, causing rental household formation to turn negative and apartment demand to soften. We have argued since mid-2022 that …
9th February 2023
Falling mortgage rates lift housing demand from trough The sharp rise in mortgage applications in January adds to the evidence that housing demand has bottomed out. As mortgage rates continue to trend lower and house prices fall a further 6%, we expect …
1st February 2023
Prices down 2.5% from peak and further falls to come A fifth consecutive monthly decline in house prices in November left them down 2.5% from their peak in June on the Case-Shiller index. We think that prices will fall by a further 6% this year before …
31st January 2023
Our forecasts for house prices, mortgage rates and incomes over the next few years mean affordability will remain relatively stretched compared with the past 15 years. But there is good reason to think that mortgage payments as a share of income were …
27th January 2023
Resilient new home sales set for gradual recovery The small rise in new home sales in December confirmed that the new build sector is holding up better than the wider market. This likely reflects builders offering generous incentives to attract buyers as …
26th January 2023
Sales continue to fall, but end is in sight The modest fall in existing home sales in December suggests the impact of the spike in mortgage rates last year has largely washed through. The recent fall in mortgage rates has helped to lift homebuyer …
20th January 2023
Starts hold up better than expected Single-family housing starts surprised on the upside in December. But it is too soon to call the bottom of the market. Indeed, another substantial fall in permits means we think starts are set to resume their downward …
19th January 2023
