September single family housing spending up 2.4% but multi family housing spending drops 2.4%

home

news index

september single family housing spending up 2.4% but multi family housing spending drops 2.4%

November 03, 2009 - Jim Haughey

Featured in:

Join the Discussion!

Login to post a comment
Share
Print this Page
RSS Feed

The initial surge in the single family market is now ebbing with the expiration of the $8,000 down payment subsidy but the housing recovery will be sustained at a slow pace until it gets another boost from a renewed tax credit — possibly within days — or the end of monthly job losses during the winter. The multi family market will continue to sink lower through the winter in parallel with other developer financed sectors. Household doubling up is reducing apartment demand. The large surplus of unsold condos has nearly halted new construction in the hot condo markets of 2004-06. The second home market remains very depressed due to the collapse of household wealth and the uncertain prospects for profits, bonuses and other contingent income.

The housing recovery will be much stronger measured in units than in dollars. The Census Bureau reports that construction costs for a “standard” home are about 11% below the peak level early in 2007. And the square footage in new home homes has also shrunk about 10%. Part of this shrinkage is temporary due to the tax credit raising the share of homes bought by first time home buyers.

U.S. Residential Building Construction (thousands of units)
	Monthly Figures (1) (latest actual values)		Annual Figures
	Monthly Figures (1) (latest actual values)		Actual			Forecast
	Aug-09	Sep-09	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Northeast starts (% change is period versus same period, previous year)	73	69	171	143	120	68	93	118
	-45.5%	-38.4%	-9.6%	-16.6%	-15.8%	-43.9%	37.0%	27.8%
Midwest	109	107	285	206	134	100	128	154
	-14.8%	-22.5%	-20.2%	-27.6%	-35.1%	-25.3%	27.9%	20.5%
South	280	300	912	676	425	279	329	419
	-29.5%	-26.5%	-8.9%	-25.9%	-37.0%	-34.5%	17.8%	27.6%
West	125	114	444	317	196	126	155.5	203
	-34.2%	-30.5%	-19.4%	-28.5%	-38.3%	-35.9%	23.9%	30.7%
Total	598	0	1,811	1,342	900	568	705	895
	-29.6%	-100.0%	-12.6%	-25.9%	-32.9%	-36.9%	24.0%	27.0%
Total Single-family	482	501	1,474	1,036	616	447	576	736
	-21.2%	-8.7%	-14.3%	-29.7%	-40.5%	-27.3%	28.7%	27.8%
Total Multi-family	105	89	338	306	285	120	129	159
	-55.7%	-67.4%	-4.7%	-9.4%	-7.1%	-58.0%	7.5%	23.5%
New Home Sales (2)	417	402	1,049	769	481	383	467	614
	-6.1%	-7.8%	-18.0%	-26.7%	-37.4%	-20.5%	21.9%	31.6%
Manufactured Home Shipments	51	48	118	96	81	51	59	71
	-37.8%	-39.2%	-20.0%	-19.2%	-15.5%	-36.9%	15.4%	21.3%
(1) Monthly figures are seasonally adjusted at annual rates (SAAR figures). (2) Based on a survey of homebuilders; excludes homes built under contract and multi-family rental units. Manufactured home data is for July and August. Forecasts and table: Reed Construction Data.

U.S. Total Construction Update

Non-residential building update

Heavy construction update

Member Comments

» View all comments (0 total comments)

Post Your Own Comments

» Not a member? Register now to become one. Otherwise, login to post your comments on this article.