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US Home Values 1Q 2019: Record-Highs
The value of all US owner-occupied homes increased to a record US$26.1 trillion in 1Q 2019, according to a Federal Reserve report known as the Flow of Funds, released Thursday. That was a gain of +4.3% from a year earlier, the slowest annualized increase since 2012. The collective value of US homes is now +15% higher than…
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CoreLogic US Homeowner Equity Insights: 1Q 2019
According to CoreLogic’s US Home Equity Report, released Monday, only about 4.1% of homeowners with mortgaged properties, which represent about 63% of all US homes, were underwater as of the end of 1Q 2019. In 1Q 2019, the total number of US mortgaged residential properties with negative equity decreased -1% from 4Q 2018 to 2.2 million…
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US Construction Job Openings Rise in April
Data from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) indicate that US construction job openings increased in April, consistent with the ongoing challenge of the availability of labor for builders. The estimated number of job openings in the construction sector increased to 404,000, a post-Great Recession high. Moreover, this marks a significant gain over the…
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US Building Materials Prices Flat as Gypsum, Lumber Slow Overall Growth
Prices paid for goods used in residential construction did not change in May (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, building materials prices have grown much more slowly in 2019 (+3.1%) than they did over the same period in 2018, during which…
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Softwood Lumber Supply-and-Demand Corrects On Further Sawmill Curtailments
The latest announcement of major sawmill curtailments Monday, this time with Canfor making production cuts at all its facilities, caused a complete reversal of lumber futures prices on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. It will be very interesting to see what happens with cash prices this week. Madison’s Lumber Reporter print is Friday mornings; this week…
