Click image for larger view
Click image for larger view
Overall
construction spending in the United States decreased by 0.6 percent during August, to a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate (SAAR) of $837.1 billion. All categories except private residential spending retreated.
Click image for larger view
Total
housing starts jumped by 2.3 percent in August, to 750,000 units (SAAR). Single-family starts increased to 535,000 units (+28,000 units or 5.5 percent) relative to July; at the same time, multi-family starts decreased to 244,000 units (-11,000 units or 4.4 percent).
Click image for larger view
Click image for larger view
New-home sales retreated by 0.3 percent, to 373,000 (SAAR). The median price of new homes sold rocketed higher, by 11.2 percent, to $256,900. Although the change in single-unit starts (+28,000 units) exceeded that of sales (-1,000), the three-month average starts-to-sales ratio dropped back to 1.39 in August.
Click image for larger view
Single-unit completions rose by 5.4 percent despite the inventory of new single-family homes remaining stable in both absolute terms and months of inventory. Inventory stood at 141,000 units and 4.5 months.
Click image for larger view
Existing home sales rose by 350,000 (7.8 percent) in August, to 4.82 million units (SAAR). The share of total sales comprised of new homes fell back to 7.2 percent, from 7.7 percent in July.
Click image for larger view
The median price of previously owned homes sold in July slipped by $1,500 (0.8 percent), to $188,100, causing
housing affordability to break off its descent since hitting an all-time high in February.
Simultaneously, the not seasonally adjusted 10- and 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices extended the previous month’s increase by rising, respectively, 1.5 and 1.6 percent in July.
“Home prices increased again in July,” said
David Blitzer, chair of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “All 20 cities and both Composites were up on the month for the third time in a row. Even better, 16 of the 20 cities and both Composites rose over the last year. Atlanta remains the weakest city but managed to cut the annual loss to just under 10%.
Click image for larger view
“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing. Single family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing. All in all, we are more optimistic about housing. Upbeat trends continue. For the third time in a row, all 20 cities and both Composites had monthly gains. Stronger housing numbers are a positive factor for other measures including consumer confidence.
“Among the cities, Miami and Phoenix are both well off their bottoms with positive monthly gains since the end of 2011. Many of the markets we follow have seen some decent recovery from their respective lows – San Francisco up 20.4%, Detroit up 19.7%, Phoenix up 17.0% and Minneapolis up 16.5%, to name the top few. These were some of the markets that were hit the hardest when the housing bubble burst in 2006. The 10-City has increased 7.4% and the 20-City 7.8% since their recent lows. The positive news in both the monthly and annual rates of change in home prices over the past few months signals a possible recovery in the housing market.”
Click image for larger view
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.