Housing Figures: Starts and Permits Up in October
December 12, 2019
Housing Figures is our monthly round-up of the top news stories related to residential new construction spending and the latest market numbers.
In this Housing Figures, we’re reveling in the news that October housing starts and permits were up, while new home sales suggest the market’s on a positive trajectory. We also look at home price increases and realtor.com’s latest market predictions.
U.S. housing permits, starts a bright spot in October. Housing permits for future home construction jumped to a more than 12-year high in October. That represents a 5 percent year-over-year increase to 1.461 million units. They were driven by the single-family market, which increased 3.2 percent to the highest level since August 2007. Housing starts also increased 8.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in October. [CNBC]
Home prices increase in October. According to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index, home prices increased nationally by 3.5 percent from October 2018. On a month-over-month basis, prices increased by 0.5 percent in October 2019. Their HPI Forecast also indicates annual price growth will increase by 5.4 percent from October 2019 to October 2020. [Builder]
U.S. construction spending declined in October. Residential construction spending came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of $508.2 billion in October, 0.9 percent below the revised September estimate of $512.6 billion. Compared to one year ago however, it’s down 0.5 percent. Still, home builder confidence was high in October thanks to low interest rates and a strong job market. [Housing Wire]
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Multifamily delinquencies stayed at record lows in Q3. Commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquencies remained at record lows in the third quarter of 2019, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Commercial/Multifamily Delinquency Report. “Solid property fundamentals, strong property values and low interest rates are all helping to keep delinquencies down,” Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s vice president of commercial real estate research, said. [Housing Wire]
Realtor.com releases 2020 market predictions. Realtor.com released their 2020 Housing Forecast predicting home prices will flatten, while mortgage rates will increase to 3.88 percent by the end of the year. The report also predicts single-family home housing starts will go up by six percent. [realtor.com]
New home sales fell in October thanks to revised September numbers. Sales of newly-constructed homes in the U.S. decreased 0.7 percent on a monthly basis in October to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 733,000. However, September’s figure was revised up to 738,000 from 701,000, surpassing June’s 12-year record, suggesting the housing market’s trajectory remains positive. [MarketWatch]
