Housing Market Snapshot
We continue to see substantial
improvements in the housing market, particularly when you look at
year-over-year comparisons.
According to the most recent data,
housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000 in
February, up 27.7% since February 2012. New housing permits were at 946,000,
which is 33.8% above the February 2012 level of 707,000. New home sales surged
15.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000 units — the
highest level since July 2008. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were
up 28.9% compared with January 2012.
Compared to a year ago, existing
home sales were up 10.2% in February. Pending home sales were up 9.5% compared
with January 2012. And total construction spending has risen 7.1% since January
2012.
Housing prices have also seen solid
gains. According to the most recent data, the Standard &
Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index was up 6.8% compared to January
2012, the largest annual gain since 2006.
According to NAR, the national
median existing home price for all housing types was $173,600 in February, up
11.6% from February 2012, the strongest year-over-year gain since November
2005.
Meanwhile, inventory remains low
and builders are much more optimistic compared to a year ago. At the current
sales pace, there's a 4.1-month supply of new homes on the market. It is
anticipated that housing prices will continue to rise and inventory will remain
tight due to lost building material production capacity and a limited pipeline
of developed lots.
Gains in employment are helping to improve the housing market. Jobless claims
in the week ending March 9 reached 332,000, the lowest level since January
2008, the very onset of what many have dubbed the Great Recession. For the week
ending March 16, the less volatile four-week average of claims for unemployment
benefits was 339,750, the lowest level since February 2008.
