US house prices start to fall
2022.11.17 09:54
US house prices start to fall
Budrigannews.com – US home construction fell sharply in March, with the housing market falling to its lowest level in nearly 2-1/2 years, as the housing market tanked under pressure from rising mortgage rates that are pricing out would-be homeowners.
Housing starts fell 4.2 percent last month to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.425 million units, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The data for the month was revised upwards to a rate of 1.488 million units from the previously reported 1.439 million units.
Reuters economists had forecast that it would begin to slide at a rate of 1410 million units. Housing construction fell 8.8% year-on-year in January.
The number of single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of home construction, fell 6.1 percent to 855,000 units in 2020, the lowest level since March 5. The construction of single-family housing decreased in all regions.
The start of more than 5 housing projects fell by 0.5% to 556,000 units. Rising mortgage rates have forced many potential buyers to remain renters, and multifamily housing construction has fared better. According to the latest consumer price data, an important indicator of rents increased the most in a record year in January.
Mortgage rates have soared in response to rampant inflation that has forced the Federal Reserve to exercise its fastest rate hike cycle since the decade of 1980.La 30-year fixed mortgage rate has averaged above 7%, the highest since 2002, according to data from the mortgage institution Freddie Mac (OTC:).
Wednesday’s data showed that confidence among single-family home builders fell by 11 percent for the eleventh consecutive month, and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to its lowest level since 2012, excluding falls during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
Permits for future home construction fell 2.4% to a rate of 1.526 million units in March. Single-family building permits fell 3.6 percent to 839,000 units.
Permits for more than five residential projects fell 1.9% to a rate of 633,000 homes.
