March 2012 U.S. Construction

Click image for larger view

Click image for larger view

Overall construction spending in the United States increased by 0.1 percent during March, to a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate (SAAR) of $808.1 billion. Only the public construction category retreated relative to February ($3.0 billion and 1.1 percent).
 

Click image for larger view

Total housing starts dropped by 5.8 percent in March, to 654,000 units (SAAR). Single-family starts fell to 462,000 units (by -1,000 units or 0.2 percent); multi-family starts put in a far worse showing, dropping to 192,000 units (by -39,000 units or 16.9 percent).
 

Click image for larger view

Click image for larger view

New-home sales retreated in March, by 7.1 percent, to 328,000 (SAAR). The median price of new homes sold ticked down by 1.0 percent, to $234,500. Although single-unit starts fell more slowly than sales (respectively, -1,000 and -25,000), the three-month average starts-to-sales ratio dropped to 1.36 in March.
 

Click image for larger view

Single-unit completions rose by 1.4 percent; the inventory of new single-family homes actually dropped in absolute terms, but months of inventory increased by 0.3 month. Inventory stood at 144,000 units and 5.3 months. As has repeatedly been the case since March 2011, the number of new homes for sale was its lowest since such records began in January 1963.
 

Click image for larger view

Existing home sales fared far worse in absolute terms than their new-home counterparts in March, falling by 1200,000 units (SAAR); the percentage change for existing homes (-2.6 percent) looked better than for new (-7.1 percent), however. The share of total sales comprised of new homes slightly, to 6.8 percent.

The not seasonally adjusted 10- and 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices declined during February (respectively, -3.6 and -3.5 percent).

“While there might be pieces of good news in this report, such as some improvement in many annual rates of return, February 2012 data confirm that, broadly-speaking, home prices continued to decline in the early months of the year,” said David Blitzer, chair of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “Nine MSAs -- Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa -- and both Composites hit new post-crisis lows. Atlanta continued its downward spiral, posting its lowest annual rate of decline in the 20-year history of the index at -17.3%. The 10-City Composite declined 3.6% and the 20-City was down 3.5% compared to February 2011.

“Due to delays in reporting for Mecklenburg County, we did not publish a January index level for Charlotte, North Carolina last month. With this month’s report we have enough data to publish data points for both January and February. The unfortunate news is that it confirms that Charlotte is one of the cities that is still reaching new lows.

“Phoenix and Atlanta stand out this month in terms of their contrasting relative strength and weakness in the early 2012 housing market. At one end of the spectrum, we have Atlanta posting a double-digit, and lowest on record, annual rate at -17.3%. Atlanta has now recorded five consecutive months of double-digit negative annual rates and seven consecutive monthly declines. On the other hand, Phoenix has posted two consecutive months of positive annual rates, with its latest being +3.3%, and five consecutive positive monthly returns.”