Residential
10/31/2007 9:27:00 AM - Resort/retirement markets hold ten of the top twenty spots in the list of markets with the most intense housing development, even with housing starts slowing sharply in many of these cities in recent months. In addition, two hurricane-rebuilding markets are on the list, Gulfport-Biloxi and Houston. Completing the list are four large and four small "business or college" cities. Each is attracting jobs with low living, business and housing costs.
10/31/2007 9:20:00 AM - Houston is widening its lead over Atlanta and Dallas as the top single-family housing market in the U.S. In the multi-family market, New York remains out front, off less than 2.5% versus last year. Also shown in the accompanying tables are cities with the largest increases and decreases in permits. The list of markets with an increase is slim, with only Seattle and New Orleans showing significant gains.
10/24/2007 7:28:00 AM - Based on the September 2007 Housing Affordability Report by the Royal Bank of Canada, the outlook for housing in 2008 continues to deteriorate. Over the past year, increases in prices, mortgage rates, utilities and property taxes have all contributed to making housing less affordable. Moreover, the share of income necessary to own a home has escalated in every province and every major metro area in Canada.
10/10/2007 5:23:00 AM - In the United States, monthly housing starts have averaged below 1.5 million units for the past eleven months. The U.S. inventory of unsold new homes has risen to 8.2-months supply — a figure near the peak for this cycle — indicating no quick resolution of the problems in the homebuilding sector. In August 2007, housing starts in Canada returned to the level they achieved in 2006 as a whole, 227,000 units.
10/4/2007 9:07:00 AM - Over the past year, increases in prices, mortgage rates, utilities and property taxes have all contributed to making housing less affordable in Canada, according to the latest Housing Affordability Report by the Royal Bank of Canada. The share of income necessary to own a home escalated in every province and every major metro area over the past year. Going forward, new residential construction will moderate more rapidly in those metro areas that have seen the most significant deterioration in affordability.
9/18/2007 1:28:00 PM - There is some good news to be gathered from a look at U.S. regional housing starts. For the first time in 2007, one of the four major U.S. geographical regions in the latest month (July 2007) actually exceeded its level of housing starts in the same month a year ago. The Northeast had a year-over-year increase in the individual month of July of +6.1%. On a further encouraging note, multiple-unit starts (-0.3%) in July of this year were virtually even with last year, on a national basis.
9/18/2007 1:25:00 PM - Through July 2007, housing starts in Canada have continued to surprise with their resiliency. On average, they are down only -6% versus last year, which compares quite favorably with the -26% drop recorded year to date in the United States. Over the past ten months, U.S. housing starts have averaged only 1.48 million units, on an annualized basis. Nor is it apparent that the U.S. slide is over, given that July's figure was lower than June's.
8/31/2007 6:57:00 AM - The most intense housing development in the U.S., excepting resorts and small college towns, is currently taking place in three mid-size southern cities: Raleigh, Austin and Charlotte. Homebuilding is increasing in each of these cities and home prices are rising from modest levels. The other cities among the "Top Twenty" are coastal Atlantic resorts, Western mountain resorts or small college towns.
8/31/2007 6:48:00 AM - Atlanta, Riverside and Dallas have suffered the largest declines in residential permits from a year ago, but proportionally these drops are small compared to the rest of the country. They have not disrupted the local housing markets as much as the proportionally larger declines in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Florida. At the other end of the spectrum, seven large cities are experiencing increasing housing activity compared to last year: El Paso, Austin, New Orleans, Honolulu, Washington, New York and San Jose.
8/31/2007 6:43:00 AM - Reed Construction Data — CanaData is now forecasting housing starts in Canada in 2007 to total 215,000 units (up from 212,500 units in the previous forecast). This will be a slight decline from the 227,400-unit level in 2006. Starts through the first seven months of this year are down only 5.5% versus the January to July period last year. A further decline in starts to 200,000 units is expected in 2008, with a leveling off to occur subsequently in 2009.