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Softwood Lumber Tariff and US Housing
The conversation shifted slightly this week; or perhaps more correctly expanded, from specifics of assignation of US duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber to the effects of that on a tenderly burgeoning US home building industry. Rising wages and moderating home prices offset a rise in mortgage interest rates to give housing affordability a…
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US Housing Starts, Home Sales: February & March 2017
Total housing starts in the US declined in March, after a strong pace was recorded in February. Total starts were down almost 7 per cent, falling to a 1.215 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD April 18. Single-family starts posted a monthly decline of…
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US Apartment Vacancy Rate: 1Q 2017
Reis reported Friday that the US apartment vacancy rate was at 4.3 per cent in Q1 2017, up from 4.2 per cent in 4Q 2016, and unchanged from 4.3 per cent in 1Q 2016. The vacancy rate peaked at 8 per cent at the end of 2009. From Reis: Effective Apartment Rents Decline in 23…
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Pending Home Sales, US: January 2017
US Pending Home Sales improved 5.5 per cent in February 2017 to its highest level since April 2016, and the second highest since May 2006, said the US National Association of Realtors Wednesday. US Pending and Existing Home Sales: January 2017 The US Pending Home Sales Index increased 5.5 per cent in February 2017 to…
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US Housing Inventory: 1Q 2017
The US housing market has again moved toward greater disconnect between supply and demand, according to a Trulia report released Thursday. US home inventory has tumbled to a new low after the eighth straight quarter of decline as supply can not keep up with demand. The drop in availability is being felt most acutely by…
