Author Archives: Raymond Merritt

Three of the top five affordable metro areas in the nation during the third quarter were in Illinois: Decatur, Springfield and Peoria.

That’s according to a National Association of Realtors ranking that put Wichita Falls, Texas, at No. 4 and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, metro area at No. 5.

At the bottom of the list, the nation’s five least-affordable metro areas were all in California: the San Jose-Santa Clara metro area was the worst, followed by the Anaheim-Irving area. The third-worst was Los Angeles, followed by San Francisco and San Diego.

Eroding affordability and tight inventory could leave some of the nation’s previously fast-growing metro areas unable to sustain economic growth because workers need a place to live, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“Even fast-growing markets could be hurt and unable to further expand because of weakening affordability conditions,” he said. “We must improve affordability by building more homes in line with local job market growth.”

The median sale price of a home in Illinois was $200,000 in November, below the U.S. median of $271,300 for the same month. In Calfornia, the median price was $589,770 in November.

Homebuilders who have been on the sidelines since the 2008 financial meltdown are just beginning to get back in the game. U.S. single-family housing starts likely will total 1 million in 2020, the highest since 2007, NAR said in a forecast last month

That’s far more than the 822,000 average of the last five years, and more in line with the 1.1 million annual average between 1958 and 2007, based on government data.

The post NAR: The most and least affordable metro areas in the U.S. appeared first on HousingWire.

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Housing construction continued to improve in December as the nation’s homebuilders increased their building efforts nationwide, sending the unadjusted pace to a 13-year high.  

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Commerce, housing starts spiked 16.9% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.608 million and the pace for November was revised upward.

“Today’s housing numbers not only confirm the home building revival this year, but they double down on its magnitude,” said Robert Frick, Navy Federal Credit Union’s corporate economist. “Not only will homebuyers desperate for inventory see their choices rise, but housing should start contributing noticeably to GDP.”

In December, single-family starts grew 11.2% from November to 1.055 million units while multifamily starts grew a whopping 32% to 536,000 units, according to the report.

Permits rose 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.474 million, which is 5.8% above the December 2018 rate of 1.339 million. Single-family permits increased 0.5% to 916,000 while multifamily permits fell 11.1% to 458,000.

During the month, single-family completions rose 0.7% to 912,000, while multifamily completions increased 19.4% to 357,000.

Although housing starts increased significantly in December, Mike Fratantoni, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist, warns the pace is likely to slow in the months ahead.

“On a seasonally adjusted basis, housing starts jumped in December to their highest level in 13 years,” Fratantoni said. “Surprisingly, single-family starts increased relative to November even on an unadjusted basis – unusual at this time of year – and was driven by a rise in the South.”

“While single-family permits are up almost 11% relative to last year, the level suggests that this jump in starts is unlikely to persist, and we would expect them to return back below 1 million this spring,” he said.

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