Tag Archives: US housing

US residential construction is growing solidly, but the apartment sub-segment is showing signs of softening.US construction is doing broadly fine, echoing the solidity of the US business cycle. On a y-o-y basis, construction was up 3.9% in March and 5.5% y-o-y in Q1 2018. Construction outperformed nominal GDP, which was up 4.8% y-o-y in Q1.The main engine is the residential market, up 7.8% y-o-y in Q1. Nonresidential construction is growing less rapidly (+3.8% y-o-y in Q1), dampened...

After a sharp rise in the construction of rental units, vacancy rates are rising, and slowing rent growth could weigh on inflation metrics.The US has witnessed a striking boom in the construction of rental residential units in recent years. This can in part be explained by the rising allure of downtown living among millennials and ageing baby boomers alike. The boom can also be explained by the lingering effects of the subprime crisis, and the restrained access to mortgage credit that has...

Household formation trends mean the housing sector is unlikely to make a meaningful contribution to US GDP.The recently released Census Bureau’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) brought sobering news for the US housing market: new household formation slowed significantly, to 405,000 in 2016, the lowest level since 2009 (+357,000), compared with 1,232,000 in 2015. In other terms, the number of households grew only 0.3% last year, compared with +1.0% in 2015.In general, household...