Construction Spending

December 1, 2023 Construction spending (the green bars above) rose 0.6% in October after climbing 0.2% in September and 2.1% in August  This is the tenth consecutive increase in construction spending.   In the past 12 months it has risen 10.7%.  As indicated  below,...

New Home Sales

November 27, 2023 New home sales fell 5.6% in October to 679 thousand after having jumped 8.6% in September.   While obviously volatile on a month-to-month basis, new home sales reached a low point in the middle of last year, but have risen somewhat since then despite...

Existing Home Sales

November 21, 2023 . Existing home sales declined 4.1% in October to 3,790 thousand after declining 2.2% in September.  In fact, this is the fifth straight month that sales have fallen.  Existing home sales are clearly being hit by the combination of sharply higher...

Housing Starts

November 17, 2023 Housing starts rose 1.9% in October to 1,372 thousand after climbing 3.1% in September.  Given that building permits in October were 1,487 thousand starts should be somewhere around that same level.  Hence, in the months ahead we expect starts to...

Homebuilder Confidence

November 16, 2023 Homebuilder confidence declined 6 points in November to 34 after falling 4 points in October, 6 points in September and 6 points in August.  That is a drop of 22 points in the past four months.  This series hit bottom in December 2022 at 31. Rising...

Case Shiller Index of Home Prices

November 28, 2023 The seasonally adjusted Case Shiller Index of Home Prices in 20 cities rose 0.7% in September after climbing 0.8% in August and 0.7% in July.  After a long period of rising rapidly, prices began to fall late last year, but after declining for seven...