US single-detached housing starts continue to decline in August
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Single-family home construction in the United States fell for a second consecutive month in August, as builders continued to tackle material and labor shortages, suggesting the housing market may continue to dampen economic growth. in the third trimester.
Tuesday’s Commerce Department report also showed that the number of homes cleared for construction but not yet started hit an all-time high last month, a sign of builders’ reluctance to undertake new projects.
The inability of builders to increase the production of single-family homes in a context of massive housing shortages is pushing up prices and pushing some first-time buyers away from the market.
âWhile lumber prices have fallen in the spot market, those lower prices have yet to reach home builders,â said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. “In addition, other essential building materials remain scarce, including windows, cabinets, electrical circuit breakers and wedge anchors.”
Workers lift a wall framing in a house under construction as part of the K. Hovnanian Homes development in Plano, Illinois.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Starts of single-family homes, which account for the largest share of the housing market, fell 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.076 million units last month. The decline was offset, however, by an increase in housing starts in the volatile multi-family housing segment.
As a result, all housing starts rose 3.9% to 1.615 million units in August. Data for July has been revised at a rate of 1.554 million units from 1.534 million units previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted that housing starts would rebound at a rate of 1.555 million units. Housing starts jumped 17.4% from August 2020.
Single-family home starts fell in the West and Midwest. They rose in the northeast and the densely populated south.
Construction costs remain an issue even as lumber futures fell from a record high of $ 1,711 per thousand board feet in May to around $ 604 in Tuesday morning trading.
Single-family home construction has struggled to gain traction since it hit a rate of 1.255 million units in March, which was the highest level since November 2006.
Starts of buildings with five or more units climbed 21.6% to 530,000 units last month. The multi-unit housing segment is driven by rental demand as COVID-19 vaccinations allow businesses to recall workers to downtown offices.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there was an exodus from cities as people worked from home and took online classes, fueling demand for larger homes in suburbs and other low-density areas. As the tailwind of the pandemic fades, housing demand remains strong thanks to near-record mortgage rates and rising wages due to the tight labor market.
But building material shortages along with scarcity of land and workers make it harder for builders to keep pace.
A survey by the National Association of Home Builders on Monday showed that builders’ confidence of single-family homes rose slightly from a 13-month low in September, but noted that “delivery times remain elongated and the chronic labor shortage in construction is expected to persist “.
Residential investment contracted in the second quarter after three consecutive quarters of double-digit growth.
Stocks on Wall Street were higher as investors assessed the risk of contagion from indebted Chinese developer Evergrande. The dollar remained stable against a basket of currencies. US Treasury prices were mixed.
Strong rental demand
Future building permits rose 6.0% to 1.728 million units in August. Single-family permits gained 0.6% to a rate of 1.054 million units. Permits for buildings with five or more units jumped 19.7% to 632,000 units, the highest level since January 1990.
âWe believe this strength in multi-family housing may be a response to the surge in asking rents and low rental vacancy rates,â said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York City.
The backlog of units to be started rose 3.7% to a record 251,000 units. Single-family homes that had yet to be started were near a 15-year high.
“Supply issues will limit production for some time to come, and we expect single-detached housing starts to increase only gradually from here, reaching 1.16 million on an annualized basis. ‘by the end of 2021 and $ 1.20 million at an annualized rate by the end of 2022, “said Matthew Pointon, senior executive. real estate economist at Capital Economics in New York.
Home completions fell 4.5% to a rate of 1.330 million units last month. Single-family home completions increased 2.8% to 971,000 units. The pandemic has lengthened the time between the issuance of a permit for the construction of single-family homes and completion, which economists attribute to supply constraints.
Used home inventory is near its all-time low, leading to record double-digit annual home price growth.
Realtors estimate that housing starts and completion rates for single-family homes need to be between 1.5 million and 1.6 million units per month to close the inventory gap.
The housing stock under construction rose 1.7% to a rate of 1.404 million units last month.
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