Housing Market Demands Still Building Up Builder Confidence Even With Supply Chain Disruptions

 

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released this October shows strong builder confidence. The main reason for this push in builder confidence is the strong consumer demand. According to the report builder's opinion of the market for newly-built single-family homes rose 4 points to 80 this October. This is incredible news since there are still hurdles for builders when it comes to rising material prices and material shortages.

“Although demand and home sales remain strong, builders continue to grapple with ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor shortages that are delaying completion times and putting upward pressure on building material and home prices,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke.

“Builders are getting increasingly concerned about affordability hurdles ahead for most buyers,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Building material price increases and bottlenecks persist and interest rates are expected to rise in coming months as the Fed begins to taper its purchase of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed debt. Policymakers must focus on fixing the broken supply chain. This will spur more construction and help ease upward pressure on home prices.”

The three major HMI categories all saw gains in October. Current sales conditions rose five points to 87, sales expectations in the next six months saw a three-point gain to 87, and traffic of prospective buyers rose a big four points to 65. The Midwest rose to 69, Northeast stayed at 72, the South stayed at 80 and the West unchanged at 83.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI is a monthly survey that measures builders' opinions of the current single-family home sales and expectations for the next six months. A scale is used to rate their opinions as good, fair or poor. Along with this measurement, participating builders are also asked to rate the traffic of prospective buyers. This is scored as high to very high, average and low to very low.

Forecast shows that the end of 2021 will still have a strong housing market with strong buyer demand. If you are in the market to purchase or sell a home now is the time to contact a local sales professional.

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2019 New Home Sales Up 3.8% Year-Over-Year

Even with the sales numbers for new homes for sale during May, 2019, not all in, an annualized report of new home sales shows a 3.8% increase, year-over-year of new home sales. Because many different firms only look at sales numbers through the lens of how they compare to the previous month’s sales, the reports of new home sales growth slowing have been inaccurate when taken into account of adjusting for seasonal fluctuations and year-over-year numbers.

In 2018, two things affected new home sales – the increases in interest rates throughout the year and a slight stock market “bear market” which slowed down the economy overall. The beginning of 2019 shows a boost after the slowdown, and it also doesn’t show any signs of wavering throughout the rest of the year according to Forbes.com economic contributor John S. Tobey (click here to read the article).

The seasonal adjustments account for the slowdown of new home sales throughout the winter – this is a consistent annual occurrance. It is Tobey’s opinion that home buyers “postponed” the purchase of their new home to wait for better housing market conditions. He also anticipates double-digit growth rates towards the end of 2019’s home buying season.

Locally, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, local home builders enjoyed enormous turnout for the 2019 Parade of Homes. Also, local builders have also seen tremendous and growing interest in home buyer contacts to build new homes and fully custom homes in Mandeville, Covington, and Madisonville. Ron Lee Homes has been inundated with interested home buyers, partially as a result of the Parade of Homes. We welcome you to Contact Us for your home building needs to sit down for a consultation to discuss your options. Call 985-626-7619 or Email Info@RonLeeHomes.com.
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Builders See an Almost 13% Increase in New Home Sales

Throughout all regions of the United States in February, the real estate industry had something to celebrate. All regions increased new home sales compared to the same time in February, 2016.  In the South, new home sales increased 3.6%, which was 7.9% higher than the past year.  Approximately 592,000 new homes sold in February, 2017, which was 12.8% higher than last year and 6.1% higher than January new home sales.
Bloomberg analysts had estimated 565,000 in new home sale for this time period but reporting from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing showed differently.  The number of new homes available for sale going into the month of March, 2017 was approximately 266,000, which is a 5.4 month’s supply of new homes for sale.  In January, this amount was a 6.4 month’s supply, but February’s new home sales numbers trimmed this amount substantially.

The average price of a new home sold for the month of February stood at $296,200, which was lower than January’s average price of sold new homes which was $308,200.  The total average sales price increased substantially month-over-month from $355,300 to $390,400.  It increased even more when compared to February one year ago – up from $349,400.

All of this is great news for new home builders and custom home builders building new homes for sale throughout Southeast Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast.  Ron Lee Homes is a St. Tammany Parish custom home builder who is building and selling new homes throughout West St. Tammany Parish.  For more information about building your new home, Contact Us at 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

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Land in Louisiana Still Available for Building One-Story Homes

New Orleans is a big city with many surrounding suburbs, and even though it is a populous area, there is still a lot of land in Louisiana on which to build.  The area is less dense than many cities across the country with very little land constraints.  No wonder the US Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) reported that in 2015 that single-story new construction homes in Louisiana were the highest in the nation.

The SOC is a monthly and annual report that is organized by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) that surveys important information corresponding to the homebuilding industry.  Examples of data gathered include start and completion dates of new homes for sale, new homes sales prices, square footage of new houses and the number of bedrooms in new homes built. The SOC is an important factor in determining where the country’s economy stands.

Nationwide the data found that 58% of new construction houses built in 2015 were two or more stories and 42% were one story.  The country is divided between ten divisions, Pacific, Mountain, West North Central, West South Central, East North Central, East South Central, New England, Middle Atlantic, and South Atlantic. In the Pacific division 69% were two or more stories, in the Mountain only 47% were two or more stories, in West North Central 52% were two or more stories, in West South Central only 45% were two or more stories, in East North Central only 49% were two or more stories, in East South Central 58% were two or more stories, in New England 84% were two or more stories, in Middle Atlantic 80% were two or more stories and in South Atlantic 66% were two or more stories.

The Northeast had the largest number of two or more stories being built in 2015 due to high density with little land which made lot prices very expensive.  Luckily Louisiana which is in the West South Central division has reasonable lot prices making it an attractive place to buy a lot and then build a new home.  If you happen to live in St. Tammany Parish in Southeast Louisiana, Ron Lee Homes, a new, custom home builder, designs and builds new homes to your specifications on lots that we own, lots that you own, or lots that you may be interested in buying.  Land in local subdivisions is plentifully available for new home buyers interested in building their own home.  We can even make recommendations as to where you might want to build depending on your life situation, finances, and housing requirements.  Contact Us Today to get started talking about building a new, custom home on a local homesite.  Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.


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