BUILDER-METROSTUDY

Metrostudy has released its second quarter 2016 Home Building Outlook, which details housing construction trends nationwide. The Home Building Outlook is the platform for Metrostudy’s national and local forecasts, spotlighting the Top 100 Housing Markets across the United States.

The second quarter update indicates that U.S. housing starts are expected to advance gradually and hit 1.18 million this year, with 813,000 of those being single-family homes as defined by the Commerce Department. Multi-family housing starts are expected to decrease slightly to 375,000 as it begins to take a back seat to the recovery in single-family homes.

Metrostudy’s proprietary survey database, which consists of data from over 100 CBSAs, as well as hand-counted lots and newly occupied homes, indicates move-ins were 10.1 percent higher in the second quarter of 2016 than a year earlier, while new housing starts rose 13.9 percent.

Nationwide, new home sales as defined by the Commerce Department are expected to increase 12.8 percent to 565,000 this year, up from the 501,000 reported in 2015.

The best overall new home markets are Denver, Boise, Sarasota/Bradenton in Florida, and Salt Lake City in terms of health and local new home sales forecast. The sunbelt dominates in terms of sales volume, with the largest new home markets expected to be Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Atlanta.

“The U.S. housing market continues a steady expansion,” says Mark Boud, chief economist, Metrostudy. “We expect similar gradual growth in volume for the next several years, but with slower price gains, especially in the new- home sector. Single family construction is finally expanding more quickly than multi-family, an expected eventuality as the market recovery matures.”

– Mark Boud