Housing Starts

March; 18, 2025 Housing starts surged by 11.2% in February to 1,501 thousand after plunging 11.5% in January.  The January decline reflected the brutally cold, snowy weather that existed in that month and the wildfires that devasted much of the Los Angeles area.  The...

Homebuilder Confidence

March 17, 2025 This series declined 3 points in March to 39 after having fallen 5 points in February and rising 1 point in January.  This is the  lowest reading for this index since December 2023  Builders are worried about the imposition of tariffs, still high...

Construction Spending

March 3, 2025 Construction spending (the green bars above) fell 0.2% in January after having risen 0.5% in December and 0.4% in November.  After rising in each of the past three months, construction spending took a breather in January.  But given the snowy, icy, and...

Pending Home Sales

February 27, 2025 Pending home sales fell 4.6% in January to 70.6 after having declined 4.1% in December. The National Association of Realtors chief economist, Lawrence Yun said, “It is unclear if the coldest January in 25 years contributed to fewer buyers in the...

New Home Sales

February 26, 2025 New home sales fell 10.5% in January to 657 thousand after having climbed by 8.1% in December.  The January drop was almost exclusively in the South and clearly the reflected the snow, ice, and extreme cold weather that persisted for most of that...

Case Shiller Index of Home Prices

February 25, 2025 The seasonally adjusted Case Shiller Index of Home Prices in 20 cities fell 0.1% in December after  having declined 0.1% in November.  This is the fifth consecutive month that home prices have declined.   Prices have `risen 4.5% in the past year but...