US home builders ramped up construction in July, beating expectations!!
The buying housing market may look down the barrel, but the construction industry is not. The construction activity has surged by 3.9% in July as compared to June of 2023. With new dwellers settling in and new laws making the construction of new properties in dense areas easier, the new home construction industry is booming. A vital gauge of fresh residential expansion attained a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.452 million during the preceding month, outperforming the market's estimated figure of 1.448 million as per statistics by the Census Bureau.
Even if one compares the figure with July of last year, the increase is a soaring 5.9% which in the construction industry is a lot. Single-family housing property takes a major share of this number with a 6.7% increase in July accounting for 983,000 starts.
Real Estate experts at United Seattle have repeatedly pointed out a current trend where potential buyers are looking for affordable housing as prices surge along with mortgage rates throughout the USA. In response to the resurgence in demand, homebuilders escalated their production efforts during the initial five months of 2023 and introduced incentives. The most recent data indicates a discernible shift in activity towards the realm of single-family housing.
The starts have been soaring but the project completion has an 11.8% decline compared with June of this year. However, the Midwest and West regions managed to drive up the completion pace of single-family homes during this period.
Another aspect indicating an increase in start is the issuance of building permits across the country. A meager 0.1% increase was seen as compared with June of this year. However, this small percentage translated into an increase of 1.4 million starts. Moreover, the permits issued in July of 2023 were 13% more than the ones issued in July of last year.
In response to the resurgence in demand, homebuilders escalated their production efforts during the initial five months of 2023 and introduced incentives. The most recent data indicates a discernible shift in activity towards the realm of single-family housing. Although the slight rise in housing starts indicates some builder optimism, the impact of potential mortgage rate increases on the future remains uncertain. Housing mobility has decreased, as many owners who would typically sell are now choosing to stay, upgrading their existing homes rather than purchasing larger move-up models.
The buyer interest has slowed down considerably though with the mortgage rate soaring at an all-time high of 7%. However, home builders are motivated by the demand-supply issue which requires more family units in the coming 5-10 years. Unveiled on Tuesday, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index assesses present sales, buyer traffic, and the sales projections for new construction homes in the forthcoming half-year.
Therefore, many factors are affecting builder sentiments including high mortgage rates, increases in construction costs, lack of skilled labor and availability of local materials. However, with the demand for new construction increasing by the month, builders have ramped up construction in July which is a trend we might see increase more as the year closes in.
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