Housing Shortages and Immigration Booms Are Colliding
On today’s Big Take podcast: What happens when rapid immigration meets slow housing production.
Latest Videos
The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
On today’s Big Take podcast: What happens when rapid immigration meets slow housing production.
Zillow Group Inc. shares fell after the real estate company published a second-quarter outlook that called for lower revenue in its core business and predicted stalling growth in the broader US housing market.
A new report from TD Economics says the federal government’s ambitious housing plan faces supply-side capacity constraints and demand measures that are not expected to have a significant impact.
An unprecedented contest is underway in Mexico over the future of one of the top beneficiaries of the factory boom south of the US border.
The Calgary Real Estate Board says April home sales were up 7.3 per cent from last year, driven by growth in the number of relatively more affordable, higher-density properties changing hands.
Apr 16, 2021
Bloomberg News
,U.S. housing starts rebounded sharply in March to the highest since 2006, exceeding forecasts and indicating residential construction is getting back on track after a winter storm-related setback.
Residential starts jumped 19.4 per cent last month to a 1.74 million annualized rate, according to government data released Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for a 1.61 million pace. Applications to build also climbed.
The figures suggest that homebuilders are making progress on elevated construction backlogs stemming from both strong housing demand during the pandemic and inclement winter weather. While home sales have softened since October, they are still above pre-pandemic levels, indicating that construction activity will remain strong for some time.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said this week that most Fed policy makers don’t see raising interest rates until 2024, which should help keep mortgage rates low and support the housing market.
Builders, nonetheless, are contending with rising construction materials prices, a challenging supply chain and limited availability of skilled workers. Those higher costs are contributing to soaring home prices that risk restraining demand.
Building Permits
Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, increased 2.7 per cent to an annualized 1.77 million units, while the number of one-family homes authorized for construction but not yet started -- a measure of backlogs -- rose to 124,000 in March, the most since May 2007.
A report on Thursday showed a measure of homebuilder sentiment improved in April, suggesting firms see steady growth in the housing market heading into the second quarter.
March data on both existing and new home sales will be released next week.
Digging Deeper