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1 month ago | 
eyeonhousing.org | Robert Dietz |Rose Quint
Economic uncertainty, the threat of tariffs and elevated construction costs pushed builder sentiment down in March even as builders express hope that a better regulatory environment will lead to an improving business climate. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 39 in March, down three points from February and the lowest level in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).
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1 month ago | 
eyeonhousing.org | Rose Quint |Robert Dietz |Jing Fu
Profitability for single-family home builders reached the highest levels in more than a decade in 2023. Industrywide profit benchmarks are important because they allow companies to compare their financial performance against the entire industry. Doing so can guide resource allocation, budgeting, and target setting for costs and expense lines. More broadly, understanding industry benchmarks can lead to an improved business strategy and to higher financial results.
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2 months ago | 
eyeonhousing.org | Rose Quint |Robert Dietz
In a clear sign illustrating the housing affordability challenges facing Americans, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI) found that in the fourth quarter of 2024, a family earning the nation’s median income of $97,800 needed 38% of its income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Rose Quint |Natalia Siniavskaia
In another sign of America’s ongoing housing affordability crisis, the National Association of Home Builders /Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI) found that in the third quarter of 2024, a family earning the nation’s median income of $97,800 needed 38% of their income to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced new home. Low-income families, defined as those earning only 50% of the median income, would have to spend 75% of their earnings to pay for the same new home.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Fan-Yu Kuo |Robert Dietz |Rose Quint |Jing Fu
All-cash purchases accounted for 7.9% of new home sales in the third quarter of 2024, marking the highest level this year but lowest level for the third quarter since 2022, according to NAHB analysis of the latest Census Quarterly Sales by Price and Financing report. Among mortgaged home sales, FHA-backed and VA-backed sales fell while conventional sales increased.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Jing Fu |Robert Dietz |Rose Quint
Home buyers moved off the sidelines in September following the Federal Reserve’s recent move to cut interest rates for the first time in four years. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in September increased 4.1% to a 738,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised August number, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in September is up 6.3% compared to a year earlier.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington |Rose Quint
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 49 states and the District of Columbia in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the last quarter of 2023 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Alaska reported an economic contraction during this time. The percent change in real GDP ranged from a 5.9 percent increase at an annual rate in Idaho to a 1.1 percent decline in Alaska.
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Sep 25, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Robert Dietz |Rose Quint |Fan-Yu Kuo
Expectations of the Federal Reserve beginning the first in a series of rate reductions kept potential home buyers in a holding pattern in August. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in August fell 4.7% after an unusually strong July, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. August new home sales registered a 716,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, after an upwardly revised estimate of 751,000 for July.
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Sep 23, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Rose Quint |Robert Dietz |Fan-Yu Kuo |Jing Fu
On average, 40% of builders’ single-family home sales so far in 2024 have been made to first-time home buyers, according to the most recent NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index survey (HMI). That share has doubled since 2016, when only 19% of builders’ sales went to first-time buyers. Our limited time-series on this topic in the HMI survey indicates that first-time home buyers purchased an increasing share of new homes between 2016 and 2021, when the proportion rose from 19% to 43%.
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Sep 10, 2024 | 
eyeonhousing.org | Eric Lynch |Paul Emrath |Rose Quint
In the most recent NAHB research on home buyer preferences, What Home Buyers Really Want Study, consumers were asked to rate how 28 kitchen and 18 bathroom features would influence their home purchase decision, if at all, using the following four-point scale:Do not want – not likely to buy a home with this design or feature. Indifferent – wouldn’t influence decision. Desirable – would be seriously influenced to purchase a home because this design or feature was included.
