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US New Home Sales: April 2019
Contracts for new, single-family home sales declined to a 673,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the US Census Bureau. However, this decline was off a strong 723,000 sale pace in March, making that month’s sales rate the best since the Great Recession. Furthermore, the April rate was the…
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US Existing Home Sales: April 2019
Total US existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined -0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million in April, said the US National Association of Realtors (NAR) Tuesday. On a year-over-year basis, sales were -4.4% lower than a year ago. Sales have declined on an annualized basis for more…
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US Built-for-Rent and Townhouse Construction: 1Q 2019
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent declined at the start of 2019. This is a very small segment of total US new home building but is the type of construction which uses the most wood, so is an excellent indicator of recent softwood lumber demand. According to data from the US Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts…
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Softwood Lumber Sales Slow to a Trickle as Prices Flounder
North America construction framing softwood dimension lumber prices were essentially flat this week compared to last, as sellers had a difficult time dealing with the sheer lack of demand. Supplies are robust to bursting and field inventories are resplendent with wood. The latest US home building, sales, and price data has been beyond glowing; so…
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US Rental Rates, House Values: 1Q 2019
Rental rates in the US have been rising steadily for more than 10 years. The latest data, released April 30, shows that rents for an average US apartment have risen +1.5% in the past year and more than +4% since 2010. That’s a pretty high rate-of-return, even when compared to recent stock market gains. Seemingly…
