Your Weekly Economic Briefing

NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index: August 2018

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has released its August 2018 Housing Market Index Report.  The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is based on a monthly survey of members belonging to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) that is designed to measure sentiment for the U.S. single-family housing market. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) is a widely watched gauge of the outlook for the U.S. housing sector.

Here is the economic impacts summary:

• The NAHB Housing Market Index in the United States dropped 1 point to 67 from prior month.
• The index measuring current or present single-family home sales dropped 1 point to 73.
• The component gauging sales expectations in the next six months fell 1 point to 72 in August.
• Prospective buyer index also decreased to 49 in August 2018 a drop of 2 points.
• NAHB Housing Market Index in the United States averaged 49.98 from 1985 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 78 in December of 1998 and a record low of 8 in January of 2009.

The underlying survey of the index report asks the NAHB’s – a federation of more than 800 state and local associations, with more than 140,000 members to rate market conditions for present day new home sales and in the next six months, as well as prospective buyer traffic for new homes.  You may refer to this report for more details:  https://www.nahb.org/en/research/housing-economics/housing-indexes/housing-market-index.aspx

Housing Starts Report: July 2018

Housing starts are the number of new residential construction projects that have begun during any particular month. The New Residential Construction Report, which is more commonly referred to as “housing starts,” is considered to be a critical indicator of economic strength. The report includes building permits, housing starts and housing completions data. Surveys of homebuilders nationwide are used to compile the data. The United States Census Bureau on New Residential Construction and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly released its Housing Starts Report for the month of July. 

Here is the economic impacts summary:

• Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,168,000. This is 0.9 percent (±11.5 percent) above the revised June estimate of 1,158,000, but is 1.4 percent (±11.7 percent) below the July 2017 rate of 1,185,000.
• Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 862,000; this is 0.9 percent (±9.6 percent) above the revised June figure of 854,000. The July rate is for units in buildings with five units or more was 303,000.
• In May of 2018, housing starts were at 1,337, 000, which was the highest rate since July of 2007. Housing Starts in the United States averaged 1,433,620 1959 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 2,494,000 in January of 1972 and a record low of 478,000 in April of 2009.

You may refer to this report for more details:  https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/index.html